some recent thoughts

Ok girls, so I'm reading this amazing book by Leslie Ludy called "Set-Apart Femininity". I'm really enjoying it and have had to limit my time in reading it and ignoring my other books or my jobs. I was reading a specific chapter last night about how often girls think that becoming a truly set apart girl for God with all the modesty and decorum appropriate for that will not attract any guys because guys have the natural instinct to go for the "sexier" and "more hip" girls. If we are dressed from head to toe in clothes and act like one of those good girls how will that gain any attention at all? But she had this extremely compelling statement that I thought I'd share with you. "But we must ask ourselves - what kind of guys are we seeking to attract? Do we really want to win the heart of a self-focused man who is only interested in our worldly allure and sex appeal? Or do we want to win the heart of a man who has been captured by Jesus Christ, a guy who sees the priceless value of a woman who shines with His spectacular, radiant loveliness?" There are and have been girls who have had a true Christian heart and have not flung themselves at guys in order to gain a husband. It has happened countless times before and God can do the exact same for you. This book is really encouraging me to change my type of lifestyle to one that is entirely pleasing to God, not just partially. It's hard, I will not skirt around that...it's one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my entire life because I'm so afraid about what others will look at me and see. I can only pray that they see nothing but Christ shining through every part of me and not me just being silly. This is far from a silly decision. It is one to put God first above all others including men and the world which deceitfully calls out to us to obey the call and flow of the culture. To put on skimpier clothes for the guys, to listen to the latest greatest music which fills our minds with thoughts of temporary relationships, to read books filled with those "perfect" love stories centered around the erotic side of any kind of a couple's relationship, those movies with the long and drawn out sexually arousing or graphic scenes, or those magazines which encourage the girls of this age to be the coolest, slimmest, prettiest, and most popular girl ever. That is not how we should view ourselves or our lives. How glorifying is that to God? Do you honestly think He is pleased when we worry or dwell on those thoughts? How much better would it be to spend that kind of time studying Him, His word, and praying to Him? Let me tell you from personal experience that it is so much more enjoyable to begin my day bright and early with my Lord and Savior as opposed to sleeping in and getting that "extra hour" of rest. It sets the stage for the perfect day no matter what happens, because I am confident that God directs every step of mine. I hope and pray that these words have reached out to you. I only speak that which God leads me to speak. May God richly bless you as you go throughout your day!

Music

The whole idea of Medieval music was to reflect God's glory in the order he had created in the cosmos, to reflect the beauty of God, to reflect his presence, the community element of his people gathered together for the purpose of understanding his glory in worship in the fullness of their lives. It is a glorious tradition, a glorious heritage that we have been given that I'm afraid we have sorely neglected. These are things we need to know, to recover, to incorporate - not because we need to go back to what someone else did, but because we need to understand who God worked with them in the time in which he placed them, and to build upon that for the time in which he has placed us, for his glory.