Daily Dignity

 Hey folks! So, God gave me this really awesome idea for a post series. I'm calling it "Daily Dignity." I will be posting a shorter post every day for a week or so. In each post I'll write about a specific area where God wants us to showcase feminine dignity.

 Now, you may be thinking, "Dignity. Ah, yes, that means.... um.... er.... actually, what does it mean?" Which is quite reasonable, seeing as this word is not used very often in our vocabulary. Sadly. So anyway, I asked that question, and immediately thought, "maybe the Bible tells me what dignity is." A quick concordance-search and I came up with Proverbs 31:25a. Speaking about the Wife/Woman of Noble Character it says: "She is clothed with strength and dignity." Now I moved on to a Hebrew-word definition look-up. What I found there was quite interesting, and rather useful. Basically the Hebrew meaning is 'splendour or nobility; often related the appearance of something that is beautiful and instils awe.' I reckon that's pretty cool. Dignity is noble; it instils awe; it is beautiful; it is noticeable. You kind of get the picture of a fairytale princess: noble, graceful, loving, gentle, serene, awe-inspiring. How amazing.
 But before I go any further, I want to let you know that, unfortunately, the English decided many times that they only wanted one word for many things. And so, like the word love, the word dignity has come to mean various things. It can mean formal, composed and serious; or it can mean someone's honour or pride; or it can be used to translate that Hebrew word hadar (that's a close as I can get it with my English keyboard) whose meaning I've explained here and is so beautiful. This last meaning is what I mean from now on in this series.

 That's an overview on dignity. The next post will be about a specific area..... but I'm not going to tell you what it is!

Your sister in Christ,
Cassie xoxoxo

Encouragement

 It's a fact: we all love to be encouraged. It inspires, strengthens and/or brings joy. God designed encouragement to build us up and help us. But does God command us to encourage others? Are we just supposed to soak it all up... or give it out as well?

 I define encouragement as one of three things: either 'something that inspires us, gives us courage or builds us up' ('hey, that's a nice top'; 'I just wanted to say, you have such a godly character'; 'you are doing such a good job, keep it up!'; 'you can do it!' etc), or 'an urging or advice' ('I'd encourage you to apologise' etc), or 'something, usually an action, and often unconsciously done, that brings joy or relief' ("Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints." {Philemon 1:7}). (I know these may seem blurred and/or all the same, but I did my best. :D I reckon you guys get the gist of encouragement.) Here, I'm just going to talk about the first one. 

 So: does God wan't us to give encouragement? OF COURSE!!! It may be hard to do at times, or seem weird, but God commands us to encourage each other. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 says, "Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing." (Let's hope that last bit is true!) There are stacks of other Bible verses that talk about encouragement; check out Romans 12:8, 2 Timothy 4:2 and Titus 2:15b. There are many places where the Bible talks about specific people encouraging: like Paul in Colossians 2:2, Barnabas in Acts 11:23 and Judas and Silas in Acts 15:32. Guess what? The Bible even tells us that God encourages us! (Psalm 10:17, Romans 15:5.) So does the Holy Spirit. (Acts 9:31.) God also speaks through the Scriptures to give us encouragement. (Romans 15:4; I think you've probably experienced these ideas for yourself!)

 Why encourage? Why does God command us to build each other up? Well, there's the simple fact that it makes others feel nice. You know how you feel when you're encouraged; others feel that way too when you encourage them. Everyone likes a boost. 
 Then, there's the effects your encouragement can have. Check out this verse: "But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see." (Deuteronomy 3:28, emphasis mine.) Your encouragement could do something big! OK, OK, maybe not saying 'I love your shirt' (I guess, you never know... it could start that girl thinking about creating her own fashion label... :P), but some things could have a big impact.
 Lastly, there's what might happen if you don't encourage someone. 2 Samuel 19:7: "Now go out and encourage your men. I swear by the Lord that if you don’t go out, not a man will be left with you by nightfall!" (OK, my example may be slightly exaggerated, but the concept still holds.) If you don't encourage someone, something negative could happen. Maybe if I hold back from telling the girl on my street that she looks pretty she'll grow up hating herself. (Maybe not, but who knows. My encouragement could just be the thing that pulls someone away from something bad or helps change a life course. But always remember, such encouragement - indeed, all encouragement - needs to be constant and consistent.) 

 I'd also like to point out that we can be channels for God's direct encouragement. This may or may not be a new concept for you, but it's really cool! For example, when I ask God for a message of encouragement for someone, He most often gives a picture. I then ask God what it means, and deliver the message. By the way, not everyone gets a picture, but I usually do.
 Sometimes God gives you a message (for your or someone else) suddenly, sometimes He gives it when you ask. Sometimes when you ask you don't get something, and that's fine. 



 So lets rise to the challenge... and the command! Let's spread encouragement all around us!


Love in Christ,Cassie xoxoxo



P.S. Check out this wonderful video!!!

New and Awesome Discoveries!

 I have exciting news! {Insert drum roll...} I've recently made 3 discoveries! And I'd love to share them with you.

1) {Rediscovered} The book "Do Hard Things" and the Rebolution. 
These are VERY cool. The book "Do Hard Things is written by teen writers Alex and Brett Harris. They inspire and challenge Christian teens to rise above our perverted culture's incredibly low expectations for us and the teen years. And to DO HARD THINGS for God. (That's what the Rebolution's all about too.) I know, I can hear you groan. 'Hard things? Who wants do do hard things?' But hey, I can tell you, this book is a HUGE life-changer, NOT a burden. (See http://www.therebelution.com/) I HIGHLY RECOMMEND "DO HARD THINGS"!!!!! I was given it two years ago, and didn't really take it in, but this holidays I decided to re-read it, and I'm SO glad I did, because it lead to...

2) My Personal Rebolution! OK, this is a long story, so I'll tell it in stages.
Stage 1: Before I re-read "Do Hard Things," the question of 'what to do with my spare time and how do I use it wisely for God' had been lurking in the background of my mind. Occasionally it reared it's head more strongly, but I never did anything about it. Then along came...
Stage 2: "Do Hard Things!" As I read it, the 'time question' bubble burst (or should I say, exploded!). I knew I had to to something. My thought process went something like this: "I needed to harness my time. And my passion... wait, passion? But I'm not passionate for anything 'big' (for example, poverty, modern-day slavery etc). Well, then, what is my passion? Ah, I'm passionate about the things on my blog, that sort of stuff... OK, how do I turn that into something hard?" Hm, good question. I needed a little...
Stage 3: Brainstorming! I thought of something and put it to my mum, who suggested some other things. Now I had a mental 'hard thing' checklist (actually, this came a little later, but I put it here because it's more relevant). My goal: take a further step in my passion to encourage girls to be pure and follow God whole-heartedly. My checklist:

1. Submit to God each morning when I wake up. 
2. Email Sarah Mally (author of "Before You Meet Prince Charming" and founder of the Bright Lights ministry) to see if she has any use for my testimony/message or me in person. I wanted see if God had an opening for me with Bight Lights, apart from starting a group. (However, nothing really came of that email.)
3. Email our Children's Ministry Pastor to see if there may be a place in the church for a ministry to young girls.
4. Attend the Radiant Purity conference that Sarah Mally is hosting - and probably her Strong in the Lord conference and the Bright Light Leaders Training too. 

If your still not convinced about this 'hard things' business, let me tell you: deciding on my hard thing, and anticipating the things God's gonna bring about, has had me full of joy for the last few days! I'm soooo excited!!! No negative results yet! (And though possible future 'failure' (you only fail if you give up!), burnout etc may seem 'negative,' they are positive, or at least outweigh the negative by a million miles, in the long run! I can brace myself for them without getting down for sure!)

Stage 4: Action! My list now looks like:

1. Submit to God each morning when I wake up. \
2. Wait for the church's response. (Then follow up, or explore other options.)
3. Attend  the conferences (held in December). 

So that's my Personal Rebolution! It's bound to make a change in my life and in the way I spend my time. Yay! Now, my third discovery...

3) The Modesty Survey. This is very exciting! The Rebolution.com hosted a survey, asking Christian guys specific questions about modesty and different clothing. It was both very helpful and encouraging to read the results. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU HAVE A LOOK! I'm glad I came across it. 

And that completes my discoveries! Awesome, don't you agree!? Open to any comments!

Cassie xoxoxo

P.S. Check out the conferences I mentioned earlier! They're worth a good hard look. 

Question Time!

OK my wonderful followers (and any other wonderful person who happens to stop by!), I have a question for you! {Drum roll, please!}

What would YOU like to see on my blog? Do you have any post suggestions? Do you have any questions, or topics that you would like me to give my opinion on? I am open to ANYTHING (well, as long as it's purity/following God related). Fire away! Please, take the time to think of something and post it in a comment.

Awaiting your response!
Cassie xoxoxo

Coarse talk: uh-uh

 I came across this verse recently: "Nor should there be any obscenity, foolish talk or course joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving." (Ephesians 5:4)  (I've put this in my Modesty in Actions post, too.) Wow, pretty direct! I also love the New Life Version: "Do not be guilty of telling bad stories and of foolish talk. These things are not for you to do. Instead, you are to give thanks for what God has done for you." I think we all do these not-great things at some point. However 'harmless' they may seem, God is against them. 
 And we also need to work on giving thanks. It's all too easy to tell a cool story and not give the due credit to God, for example. We need to publicly give thanks to Him for His work. (Psalm 22:22) What a challenge. 


Cassie xoxoxo

Idols

 'Idols in our life.' We've all heard the concept before, and the lecture that goes along with it: don't let anything in your life be above God. But can you relate? I couldn't until about a month ago. I used to nod my head in agreement, but, to be honest, nothing was really interfering with God in my life. Then that changed.

 When we moved, God quickly gave me friends, who are amazing. I am so thankful for them. BUT, because I had been staved of the constant, every-day kind of friendship (sure, I still emailed and valued my old friends, but there was an element of frequency that was missing) I started to idolise my new friends. They became "objects of my excessive and superior adoration." (My variation of The Concise Oxford Dictionary's definition of 'idol.') True, I did not live to please them, and I believe they were a 'mild' idol; but they were an idol nonetheless, I had to give them over to God.

 Unknowing of my situation (nice one, God!), the mum of a friend shared the 'open hand' concept. Instead of pulling our hands into a fist, and holding tightly to what God has given us, we should let them lay open, alowing God to do what he wants with his blessings. (While it's true that God can take them away, even if our hand is closed, we still need to make a conscious decision to release them to him.)

 So in my personal devotion, I physically laid my hand open, and pretended to place in it my friendships. I told God that He could have them and do whatever He wished with them. I told Him I wanted Him to be in the highest place in my life. After praying, I felt a shift. I knew my friends weren't an idol any more.

 However, after a while I realised that this would be a continual process. Satan keeps trying to shove friends onto the top of my life, and I have to pray to get them back down and God back up. I don't know how long this will go on for. But I do know that I must always watch for signs of idols, and be willing to give them over to God.


With sisterly love,
Cassie xoxoxo

The True Reason

  I've been posting all about what we as Christian girls should be like. I've suggested many things to improve our behaviour and ourselves (among other things, but mostly that). You've shared you views on crushes and modesty - stuff to do with improving ourselves. And while I believe this is all good and valid, I think that we may need to be reminded of why we do all this.

 We often get so caught up in the 'doing' and 'being' that we lose our focus. We need to remember that we love Jesus - that's why we try to do what he wants. "If you love me, you will obey what I command." (John 15:15) He's saved us, and wants only the best for us - that's why we obey him. Cause seriously, why wouldn't we want to! Man, we have two awesome reasons for living out our faith: gratitude and our benefit! Also, God loves us so much! "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!" (1 John 3:1a) On Friday night my youth leader reminded me that God loves looking at us when we shine for Him. We're like sunflowers in His garden which He enjoys. He LOVES to spend time with us! When we obey Him, He's cheering us on! God loves us more than I can find words to say! When we think of it like that, it puts our obedience and 'doing' into perspective.

 So sit back. Take a breather. Remember why we do what we do, why we strive so hard, why we run the race.


Your sister and comrade in the race,

Cassie xoxoxo