getting in the swing of things!

Starting school, for me, has been something I have been looking forward too. It means moving back to school, starting classes that apply to my major (Social Work) and being with my roommate & friends which all get me really excited! I have loved the first 2 day of classes. I have already learned more about the different of fields of practice there are (family and child services, mental health, geriatric services or school social work), the populations you can work with (homeless, physically disabled, adoption or foster care), and I will be able to visit all of these different fields, and more, in my Social Work in the Settings class when we take field trips to different agencies. I am very excited and hopefully God will show me what I do and do not have a talent for. Check out the Social Work program at RWC if you'd like at: (I'm even in the picture of the home page, in the yellow shirt!) 

http://www.roberts.edu/Academics/divisions/social_work/bsw/

In my Purity Devotional book, the past sections have dealt with your heart, being single-minded, and being clear-sighted so that we are NOT double minded for God. We should have ONE desire. To focus on the LORD and to make our hearts be the most pure that the Holy Spirit is trying to achieve in us. We can NOT obtain full purity, unless we it starts in our hearts. I have come to the "Pure in Body" section. This chapter deals with your  outward appearance and physical body. This is definitely something I personally struggle with, and you may too. It is hard to say NO to temptations that i face everyday, and offer up my body as a sacrifice to God from Him to use.

A Pure Woman Offers God Her Body

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

- Romans 12: 1-2

Do you know how much God wants of you?? ALL of you. Your heart, desires, plans, hopes, emotions, goals and everything else. But how can you do that if you are tempted to use your body to satisfy yourself? There is a daily battle we are faced with and that is why offering our bodies to God is a daily sacrifice, that must become a routine. The more you offer yourself to God the more pure you will become and you will resemble your SAVIOR more and more! In verse 2, Paul gives us 2 steps/actions: 1) not to be conformed to this world and 2) renewing your mind. Controlling what you think about can really determine your purity. If you are obsessed with catching up on the latest gossip, constantly trying to keep up on all the latest trends, or never going out in public with make-up on, than you probably don't have a pure mind set. You would be focusing on things of this world and consuming feeding off of those things, rather that feeding off God. (I admit, I find myself caught up in these things form time to time. But this is a battle that I am facing every single day and I know that I am not doing this alone. I have Jesus to help me through everything that I do. Philippians 4:13 " I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me") 

"Guarding what we watch, read and hear isn't legalism. It's just sanctified common sense." -Lydia Brownback

The challenge for this devotional is for YOU to take out one thing from your daily routines that is holding you back from growing closer to God and becoming more pure in body, mind and spirit. Whether it is your make-up, that TV show you "must watch" every day, the magazine with the latest celebrity gossip in there or even wearing expensive designer clothing just for the labels. Take IT out of your sight and out of your mind and see how your priorities change. Pray to God and offer yourself to Him, today! After all, He is your Heavenly Father. :)

What is your image?

Hey all, the last month of summer has definitely been the most crazy, fun, and busy of them all. It definitely has flown by so quickly too. Finishing up my summer class last week and only having a week to re-cooperate for school starting next week (monday, august 30) I am trying to get ready and get focused for a new semester to start. I am so excited that God has guided me to where he wants to be. I am in the Social Work program at Roberts Wesleyan College and have buying books, reading/studying, and preparing myself for the classes I am about to start. I am trusting God and letting him take control, so that His Will be done. I can't think of anything better than to know that my Creator is in control, and I can be worry free. To trust Him and to know that He wants the best for my life (and yours too!!!) is an awesome feeling!

So, for the past 2 weeks, I have been missing my Purity devotional book. But, I have found it again! So i have not done any blog posts on my devo's and really have been focusing on the book of James. The book of James is one of my favorites, its always great to turn back to when I feel like I need spiritual growth and guidance towards being more like Christ. Such as, taming my tongue, going through trials/temptations, focusing on the Lord's plans and not my own, putting my faith into my actions/deeds and being consistent about them! Now onto the devotional...

A Pure Woman Reflects God's Image

Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Proverbs 31:30

The women of this world are caught up with the latest fads, obsessed with their body image, their reputations, their wealth and fortunes, and how people view them from the outside. That isn't how God designed us though. God designed us to beautiful in our own images and to radiate his love & kindness, and to be the kind of woman a wise man seeks for his wife. Are you seeking to be like the Proverbs 31 woman? You cannot be like her, or look like her because she isn't real. She is only an image in a poem, and she is the image of an ideal woman. We CAN however be like her, in our own images. The way God has created us, with our own specific talents, our own unique looks, personalities and to our own standards. We can be our own kind of Proverbs 31 woman by distributing biblical femininity, which glorifies God. 

What are your God-given talents? How are you going to glorify God today, or this week? Honoring and loving your husband (1 Peter 3:1), helping the needy (Philippians 2:4), or encouraging your friends (Proverbs 27:17)? This week you should try to go outside your limits and see how you can glorify God in your own special way, make a devotion to Him and submit to Him everything you have. After all, He DID sacrifice for us His ONLY son so that we could be saved form this world and one day, live with him for an eternity. So, give it all to Him!!! 

Thanks for reading!

Amy

WOW i can't believe its almost been 3 weeks since i've last blogged... but i guess i can say the past 2 weeks have been the craziest/busiest yet this summer! I don't know how i survived... Oh that's right, the LORD helped me through it!!!! Don't you just love when you are starting out the week on a monday morning and you think to yourself "this week is going to be the worst" or "this week is going to go by so slowly" and than it ends up flying by and going so much better than you thought???? The Lord is SO good to me in that way. The week of July 25-31 i was scheduled over 30 hours of work, and usually I get about 8-12 hours. I was not looking forward to starting out my monday morning at 6 a.m and I wanted to think that if I just stayed in bed, than I wouldn't really have to go to work... It didn't work out like that! However, it turns out the week went so quickly and by the time friday came around it felt like it had only been about 2 or 3 days! If you just give everything up to God, your worries, your burdens, your pain, your struggles and anything you may be dealing with right now and just let him handle it, he will work it out for the best. Romans 8:28 - "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him...." Several people have encouraged me to really dwell on this verse because the past few weeks i have been going through my own trials and dealing with pain that may seem unbearable (heartbreak). When you trust in the Lord and Delight yourself in Him, He really will work things out for good. He loves us so much that He wants us to have the VERY BEST in our lives and right now I may be wishing and wanting things that I cannot have because for some reason God took them out of my life, but I know that God will work things out for the best. I just need to seek Him and trust in him FULLY! Also, everything really does happen for a reason. I believe that I am going through this trial because God is teaching me patience, and he is trying to show me that He is all that I will ever need, above any man, above any friend or item of clothing! That's why I'm sticking like paper on glue to my Creator! Because He will provide all that I need for this life until I spend an eternity with Him!