Bad Company

Things to remember from the video:

1 Corinthinans 15:33 - "Do not be misled. Bad company corrupts good character."

" ...I expected that I was going to be able to maintain my Christlike behaviour when I was hanging out with these kids...and especially when I have no support from other Christians...""

Romans 3:10 "There is no one righteous..."

I can't do anything on my own.


Bad company is people who are not living the way that God has asked us to live.

It doesn't mean that they are evil, horrible people.
It just means that they are not seeking after Christ, like you, and thus they are bad company for you.


It is hard to give up those friends, because they can be some of your 'closest' friends or 'only' friends, because you may not have any Christian friends.

Letting go of them can be one of the best things for your life, because it can allow you to see what is going on in your life, that may be keeping you from Christ.
It may take time to end those relationships.

You can be more of a 'light' when you hang out with other Christians.


Remember, the Majority Rule.
If you are going to hang out with somebody that you are trying to win for Jesus, only hang out with them when the majority of people that you are with are good company and good character people.
So that means, if you hang out with a non-Christian friend, bring 3 Christian friends with you, so that your good company can bring their bad company up, instead of their bad company bringing you down to their level.
This will allow you to have success.

Answer this:
It can be okay to hang out with non-Christians...but are they your MAIN friends?
Are you hanging out with people that are not following the call of Christ?

Time

I have realised that I need to put more time into reading the Bible and TALKING and LISTENING to God (praying).

I knew a long time ago, that I should be doing this (and have started), but never continued with it, as I have let distractions and excuses get in the way.

For this to be a reality in my life, I have come to the conclusion that I have to forfit doing other things (such as reading blogs), and prioritize my time better.

I find it easier to 'do' things by minusing other things in my life all together, so that I don't get distracted and so that I am not as easily tempted.

The devil trys his best to keep us busy.
The last thing he wants is for us to pray and form a 'personal' relationship with Jesus.
He couldn't stand it if we set aside time, to not only read the Bible, but find time to TALK to Jesus each day and then be quiet and still (say nothing), and actually LISTEN to what He is telling us.

I recently recieved a good reminder from someone who wrote:
"Be faithful to your time for daily prayer above everything else like Jesus was....this is THE KEY, because it is only then that you can listen more deeply to God's will for your life and then put it into practice.
Everything stems from your prayer life!
And the devil is so happy when he stops you from making time to pray because he has stopped you from listening to God speak to you directly through his Word!!!
Always be radical in this one thing and everything else will flow from it."

God gave us the Scriptures to read and to see how He lived His life and to learn how to love like Jesus does.
If we don't know Jesus, then how can we be like Him?
And to know Him, we have to form a close relationship with Him.

So don't be offended if I don't read your blog anymore, or have stopped following or don't comment.
Right now in my life, I am shutting off my temptations and concentrating on starting to form a real relationship with my true Father who loves me more than I know and is waiting and longing for me to dialogue with Him.

"Everyone is doing it"

Source = Chastity.com

How should I respond when people in my high school say, "Everyone is doing it?"

You could respond in any number of ways.
For one, you could ask the person, “If I can prove that the majority of high school students are virgins, will you be abstinent?”

The most authoritative research on the sexual activity rates of high school students is the Youth Risk Behavior Survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control. According to this nationwide survey of more than 150 high schools, only about a third of all students are currently sexually active.
Since 1991 teen sexual activity rates have been dropping, and now the majority of high school students are virgins.
In fact, between 1991 and 2005 the sexual activity rate of high school boys dropped twice as quickly as that of high school girls!

Among teens who have already lost their virginity, two-thirds of them wish they had waited longer to have sex (77 percent of girls and 60 percent of guys).

The trend toward chastity is well underway, even if you haven’t noticed it on your campus.
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy surveyed teens from around the country, asking them if it was embarrassing for teens to admit that they are virgins.
Surprisingly, 87 percent of teens said no, it’s not embarrassing.
Most of those who said it was embarrassing were under the age of fifteen.
Only 5 percent of older teens (fifteen to seventeen years of age) thought virginity was an embarrassing admission.

Despite the fact that these teens said virginity wasn’t something to be ashamed of, you don’t hear much about it because the sexually active students do all the talking.
For some reason chastity gossip just doesn’t seem to spread as quickly.
This gives the impression that “everyone is doing it,” when in reality the majority are not.

You could also point out that the “everyone” who is “doing it” is also getting STDs, that “everyone” is breaking up three weeks after they have sex, and “everyone” ends up getting divorced if they stay together long enough to get married.

You are in no rush to join any of these crowds.
We all have a fear of not being accepted or of being a loner if we do not conform to the world.
But you must hold out for the higher standard of love.

The bottom line is this:
What is your motivation?
Is it to please God or to conform to the world and make life-changing decisions based on the opinions of classmates, most of whom you will probably never see again after graduation?
Stay strong.
You are worth the wait.
Besides, the world needs to see young people who are not scared out of their minds to be chaste.
This is something to be proud of, and if enough people on your campus realize this and have the courage to stand up, I would bet the saying “everyone is doing it” may eventually refer to chastity.

His Little Princess

Click HERE to buy the book and take a look inside the 1st few pages.

















A True Fairy Tale

Cinderella is a great story, but after the last page is turned, little girls can’t look forward to the tale coming true when they grow up.
It’s just “for pretend.”
Now girls ages four to nine can unveil the reality of their royal calling!
His Little Princess shows them that they are not pretend princesses…because God is for real!
When a grown-up sits down to read out loud these touching love letters, girls will come to understand and embrace how much they are truly loved and adored by God, the King of kings!

A Daughter of the King

Every little girl dreams of being a princess.
And for the one who trusts in God, the Word heralds a most beautiful truth: She is the chosen daughter of the King of all kings.
She is a true princess!

Here is a majestic gift for that special young one in your life—personal letters written from her King.
Each day a new letter will inspire her to live and act like the radiant princess she is!

Story Behind the Book

“If we can help our daughters learn from a young age that they are God’s chosen princesses, we will help them to win the identity struggles they will face as teens. While we have influence in their lives, we need to deposit in their hearts and minds how much they are loved and how important they are in God’s kingdom.
This book will give girls godly confidence that they are chosen by the King of all kings.
Read one each day to them and watch them grow into the princesses they are destined to be!”

Abortion Testimony

Thanks to Divine Ripples

Educational computer games for kids

Here are some good educational games for your younger children.
I'm not into having my kids sit on the computer, however, when I do I just limit my children to 20 minutes a day.
It's good for those chaotic times in the evening to keep them occupied.
It's helped my 4 year old to learn her letters and their sounds.

http://www.starfall.com/

http://pbskids.org/

http://www.learninggamesforkids.com

http://www.funbrain.com/index.html

http://www.tvokids.com/

http://www.ictgames.com/resources.html

http://www.nickjr.com/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/

http://www.kidsspell.com/

http://www.speakaboos.com/

The black sheep

Some things to reflect upon:

* Notice Jesus 'carries' his lost sheep, instead of poking and prodding them with his shepherd's staff?

- We too should nurture the people in our life and treat them with love and respect.

















* Notice Jesus picks up (and holds close to his Heart), the black sheep too, the one that is different than all the rest?

- We too should help those people out that everyone else rejects because they are different.
- Or, if you feel like you are a black sheep, an embarrassment to others - remember how special and unique you are in God's eyes and that He will never forget you or leave you. He made you and He accepts you just the way you are.
















Isaiah 40:11 "He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart"

Jesus loves everyone, not just those who fit in, and He takes great care of us all.

Making time for God

Almost all of us have busy lives so here are a couple of ideas to make time for God. One idea is to wake up a little early and spend some time in prayer before getting up and/or go to bed a little early and spend some time in prayer and spiritual types of reading before going to sleep.
St. Teresa of Avila said she often began prayer with a good spiritual book to help put her mind on God as to pray correctly one needs to first set aside other concerns and put our minds on God alone and then she also advises to speak to Jesus as one would a friend.

Loving the people in our life also requires setting aside some time for them.
Love desires to be with those we love and just as we set aside time to be with God alone, so we need to make time for our loved ones on earth by spending time with the people who count to us.
If we want a relationship with God and others we need to spend some time relating or else no relationship!
No time?
How much time do you spend on the internet or watching TV or doing other recreational types of things or maybe even working for things you don't really need while neglecting those things you do, like God and some special people in your life? The greatest two commandments are:
Love God with your whole heart, whole mind and whole strength and your neighbor as yourself.
If we do these things we will have inner peace now and forever and if we don't, we won't.
St. Therese of Lisieux had some words worth pondering as she neared her own death... she said, "It is love alone that counts".

No need to worry about things anyway as God will take care of all our needs when we put Him first including our need for a spouse and people to love us and to love in return.
If we are doing that and it hasn't happened yet, what is needed is trust... do what is right and good and true and trusting God has a great plan for our life and it will unfold as time goes on and in the right time.
We don't need to do things out of fear or impulsiveness or drives, in fact those feelings should not be acted on but just trust God and do what is right and what often is accompanied by a sense of deep peace inside where God dwells inside us and things will be as they should and even better than we imagined they could be.
The Bible says, " Fear is useless, what is needed is trust" and if we don't have it or anything else we need the Bible says, "Ask you and will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be open."
As far as earthly things go, Our Lady of Fatima said that what is required of us all is doing our "daily duty".
Our daily duty is to what is required for us at this time and place in our life and relationships.

Doing what is right can be a gigantic struggle because we are all sinners and we need God's grace to overcome but we have God's promise of his help and grace for the asking seeking to do what is right and letting the chips fall where they may.
We need to pray for the strength to do what is right and God will give us the grace and make up for the lack in our actions and make all things work together for good in our life.

With us some things are impossible, but with God all things are possible.

We need to become God pleasers and not a people pleasers.

Pain isn't pleasant but sometimes it is necessary to achieve real change and growth for ourselves and others so we need to accept any necessary pain and work through it to achieve the goal.

Additional thoughts:
If we want to be holy, we seek God's will alone and really that is the only thing that makes sense as God loves us more than we love ourselves.
He wants only what is best for us in the long run and He knows everything and we don't and he knows what is best and we don't, so seeking his will is really and truly seeking our best good.
Some of us who have made messes of our lives in various ways realize this through experience, but it is possible to learn this just by trying it... if we try it (learn God's will and put it into practice) we will see it is true and works without having to understand it or learn things the hard way or hit bottom or whatever. Jesus says if we want to know what is true, to do to what He says and we will know it is true.
That is how we know it is true in the doing it, not in the understanding it, as we will understand it when we do it... so the thing here is not intellectualizing but putting it into practice.
In effect Jesus says: Do what I tell you and you will know it is true.
With God's help we can do it, and with someone like that on our team all will be fine.

Summary:
Seek God first and all things will be given us besides and all things will work together for good (as God describes good not as we do as sometimes what seems good to us really isn't best in the long run and only God really knows what is best and sometimes we don't know what is best in any given circumstances) if we love God and put him first in our lives.

Jesus' prayer:Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed by thy name. Thy kingdom come, THY WILL BE DONE on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen. (For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever).

From Catholic Spiritual Direction.

Ex Porn Star tells the truth

By the power of Jesus Christ and to acomplish an important mission she fell into to cruel world of pornography. An outstanding testimony of conversion that will shock you. Now, mother of three and a loving viewer on Mother Angelica, unveils the dark side of the evil industry.

Porn - you have a choice

Help for Porn Addiction:

xxxchurch.com

www.pornnomore.com

www.thekingsmen.org

www.cleanofheart.info