willl make you smarter. It's proven! That's what we learned about in church today. When Daniel, Mishael, Azariah and Hannaniah were taken to Babylon, they stood up to the peer presure, followed their beliefs and honored God. In turn He blessed them and helped them in their studies at the end of their training period they were found to be 10X smarter then the other captives. I think that goes to say alot for their training as children. We aren't sure how old they are in this story but the fact that their homeland was just ravaged and they were taken from everything they know to a land where their God is not worshiped and idolatry is the religion, to stand up to a king who has even his higher official living in fear of doing something wrong and getting their heads chopped off, theses guys had remarkable, incredible courage. They knew their beliefs and stood up for them, they knew that the food the king wanted them to eat was not honoring to God and the followed him. They also trusted that God would see them through this trial. What would happen if we would stand up for our beliefs? If we didn't allow this world we live in to pressure us into their thinking? We are alot like Daniel and his friends.. our God is openly mocked, we "speak" a different language then people of the world, and we are told it's ok to put things before God. I know that I want others to see Jesus in me, I want people to look at me and say "wow! that girl is different, I wonder why, what drives her?" that is my prayer today.

 so I've been doing a Bible study with Ben's mom and something I've been thinking about lately is the perfect wife... I mean I know she doesn't exist, except in guys' mind. But  I was thinking, wives are to love, respect, honor, submit to their husbands. Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church (me). So how do I show love to Christ... ( keep in mind the husband is not taking place of Christ, this is just how I am to show love to him.)

1. praise him/thank him - I am supposed to do this in everything, in all circumstances thank him for this is God's will for you in Christ (1 Thess. 5:18) Thank him for being a leader, making the decision, bringing in money, for food and shelter.. even when he makes a bad decision that he thought was wise, thank him.

2. tell him - how many times do we tell God that we love him? At church almost every Sun, when there is an awesome sunrise that takes your breath away, when you realize the pitiful state that you would be in without him, we tell God quite often that we love him. Guys are no different, I mean they were made in the image of God, so tell them you love them. Don't let them forget that are there for them and will always be there.

3. ask him for help - it seems like I am always asking God for help, help me to be patient, help me to win over this temptation, etc. guys like to solve problems, so when you have a problem ask for help!! This has nothing to you with you being equal to them (which I have problems with anyway), it shows them that you believe in their ability to be able to fix the problem, that you trust them enough to hand them the reigns.

4. put complete trust in him - yes there are jerks out their that will betray your trust, but all guys are not that way, besides if you married this person I really hope that you trust them enough to let them see the real you. Not saying that he needs to know absolutely everything, but he should be your best friend, the first person that you turn to when you need advice, a hug, or a shoulder to cry on.

5. tell others about how good and totally awesome he is -I want to tell others about everything that God is doing in my life, I want them to know how I've been changed just because he is in my life. I'm not going to go around and say God is so awful to me.I'm so tired of the girls I work with complaining about their fiancee's. Everyone has faults, but does the whole world need to know? When you talk bad about someone in public you never know when the talk is going to stop flying around, and by then whoever you are talking about will have a bad reputation, in turn it makes you yourself look dumb because you choose to or are marrying this person anyway. And then what happens when it gets back to the person you were talking about? Bad stuff always goes around faster then good stuff. If you tell someone something good about someone else and it gets back to them, they will think wow! she really thinks that about me?She is so awesome!!

 

yes, I'm young and idealistic. but this is what I've been thinkin about the last few days.

 

 

so today at work a lady came in and was making on payment on her overdrawn acct. she didn't have enough to cover it however. I felt really bad when she asked if we could take the overdraft fee off, but since it hadn't been applies yet I told her that she would have to come back later and see if they were going to charge her and then she could talk to customer service about a refund for it. So I was making the deposit and a lady came up and said, "I just overheard you and I would like to put this into your acct." she then handed me a $20 which was enough to cover the overdraft and put the customer into the positive. She gave my customer a hug and left. My customer was so excited she was almost crying and she told me over and over how she didn't know the lady who had helped her or anything, but she wished she knew her name so that she could thank her.

 I just thought it was really neat, it reminded me of the program that the radio station was doing. Where they had you pay for the person behind you and see how long it could go. So many people called the station and told them how it had really made their day and touched them.