More Than Just Shamrocks, Corned Beef, and Leprechauns

Little do we seem to know, but there’s more to St. Patrick’s Day than pots of gold, shamrock-shaped sugar cookies, and “Kiss me, I’m Irish” T-shirts. It’s a holiday that celebrates something with much greater eternal importance.

It celebrates the first missionary to bring the good news about life in Jesus Christ to the unreached people in Ireland.

Patrick’s story is actually a testimony of the power of forgiveness and a reminder of the awesome things that can happen with our lives when we turn control over to God.

When Patrick was a teenager, he was captured by Irish raiders and taken from his home in Britain to Ireland to work, enslaved. After six years in Ireland, Patrick began to sense God speaking to him — calling him to leave Ireland and return to Britain. He escaped captivity and made it home to Britain where he had another encounter with God calling him back to Ireland — this time not as a captive, but as a missionary.

After years of schooling and training, Patrick returned to Ireland to encourage the Christians already there and to begin spreading the good news of life in Jesus Christ to the rest of Ireland.

A huge obstacle for Patrick as he began to preach about Jesus was the Druids — the leaders of an influential, religious and intellectual group in Ireland. Until the Irish people began converting to Christianity, most people practiced a pagan (not related to God) religion that worshiped nature.

Patrick has been said to have “driven out the snakes” from all of Ireland. This does not mean literal snakes, but rather the Druids and pagan religions. Patrick reclaimed the country for the glory of the Lord.

Imagine how different our world might have been if Patrick had allowed bitterness towards those in Ireland who had taken him captive affect God’s call on his life? Patrick would have had every excuse to tell God no and to send someone else, but he forgave them and allowed God to burn compassion in his heart to bring the message of hope that is Jesus to the Irish people.

What are you holding on to that might be affecting God’s call on your life?

if you don’t stand for something

It’s been said that if you don’t stand for something you’ll fall for anything. What does that even mean?

Judges 21:25 (NIV) sums up the struggle that went on during the entire Book of Judges. “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.”

In Bible times most nations were ruled by kings who made and enforced the laws of the land and provided order. But during this particular time period, Israel had no king yet. They had forgotten that God was their king who spoke to them through the judges. The Israelites tried to judge right from wrong on their own, and allowed injustice to go unpunished. No one stood for the truth so they fell for everything.

When we don’t believe that there is absolute truth or a final authority — that God is the only God, that Scripture is the Word of God and is true, word for word, that sin is in our human nature and separates us from God  — we lose the ability to decipher right from wrong. Our flawed human thoughts and opinions become the compass guiding us in our decisions and our judgment gets clouded. We start this “well it may not be okay for you but I don’t see anything wrong with it” rationalizing and before long, we’re following our own religion of man-made thoughts and beliefs, picking and choosing what we support and what we frown upon like it’s an a la carte menu … supporting abortion in the instance of rape and sex before marriage when you know you’re going to marry the person, but not supporting homosexuality. Or supporting an occasional glass of wine or a beer with friends in a controlled environment like your parent’s home, but not supporting clubbing.

The Bible is our source for absolute truth. Second Timothy 3:16 talks about how all Scripture is God-breathed, Psalm 119:160 declares “all your words are true” (referring to God), and John 17:17 says that God’s Word is truth. We can trust the words in the Bible and apply them to our lives. We can absorb them and let them be our compass for the way we respond to culture.

What are you standing for? Are you grounded in your faith? Does your position on homosexuality, abortion, sex before marriage, or dating a non-believer match up with your source for truth — the Bible? What about your belief in water baptism, salvation, God’s grace, or the baptism in the Holy Spirit?

Devote some time this next week to take a stand on these issues. You might have a lot of great thoughts, but if someone were to ask you where you stood you’d flounder with an answer. Grab a Bible with a good concordance and read up on a few of these topics. Pray over them. Journal about them.

If you don’t stand for something you’ll fall for anything. Your mind will be too open. You’ll be vulnerable to being misled. You’ll be too eager to trade in what you believed last week for the new thing to believe this week. Find out what the Bible, your source for absolute truth, says about the topics you see in our culture today.

20 easter holiday ideas!

so we all get those days during the easter (or any other) break when you just don’t know what to do with yourself. so I have decided to make a list of things to do! Remember, this is just as much my list as it is yours!!!

1. Stay in your PJs all day watching your favorite movie/tv show!
2. Go to breakfast with a friend. Friends and pancakes make life so much more happy!
3. Write letters to five different people you haven’t spoken to for a while. Include a photo, a fun recipe clipped from a magazine, or if it’s a grandparent, your latest art project or writing assignment. They’ll love feeling included in your life.
4. Deep clean your room. Make it fun — set up a laptop on your bed and pop in a movie. Have a tall glass of juice, soda, or hot chocolate sitting by to reward yourself for progress you make every few minutes!
5. Clean out your closet.
6. Take naps. You’re a teenager — you need a lot of sleep.
7. Cook dinner for your family.
8. bake a cake, or any other dessert, and invite friends over for a girly chat!
9. have a sleepover!
10. Read through a book of the Bible. Choose a book you’ve been wanting to read and tackle it over some hot chocolate during your break. Choose a version that is easy to understand, like The Message or theNew Living Translation.
11. Learn something new. Learn how to crochet, embroider a hand towel, make fondant cakes, sew a blanket, play a new song on the piano, bake a pie from scratch, ect.
12. Invite a friend over for pedicures. It’s spring … almost flip flop and sandal season. Polish up those toesies!
13. Call up a friend and get day passes to your local gym. Have fun working out, using their pool, and taking a class.
14. Have a themed movie night with friends complete with two or three movies to match the theme and snacks too.
15. Make ice cream floats out of all different kinds of sodas — grape, lemon lime, orange, cola.
16. Head over to a thrift store and challenge yourself to put together an entire outfit for $_____ or less.
17. invite a friend over and do some aerobics! It will be a complete laugh, and you can reward yourself with a low fat smoothie!
18. Take a day trip with your friends or family to somewhere an hour away, just to explore new sights.
19. Go shopping.. duh!
20. make a scrapbook of you and your friends! Get them to come over to contribute with any photos that they have!

Colours with hair!

In today’s blog we’re going to be looking at what colors look best on you based on your coloring. But first and foremost, let’s make one thing clear — never ever, under any circumstances, avoid wearing something you like because it doesn’t follow the color “rules”! In high school I had a guy I liked tell me that red was not my color. It was several months before I wore anything red again because I was so insecure. So this blog isn’t meant to discourage you from wearing colors that you like, but instead, it is meant to help you learn more about yourself.

Blondes: Blondes with pale skin look good in more muted colors. They might wear something like this orthis.

Brunettes: Rich, bold colors look great on brunettes! Think bold reds, greens, blues, pinks, and yellows. Brunettes might wear something like this or this.

Red heads: Red heads look great in purples and shades of earth tones, like green, brown, red, and orange. Think autumn! Red heads might wear something like this or this.

Dark: Because of your dark hair, you can pretty much wear any colors, like this or this.

inside the mind of a teen girl

okaaay so! My blog has become a fashion/beauty only blog, and i really dont want that to be happening right now! People are gonna look at my title -inside the mind of a teen girl- and think man that girl is vain. which I’m not! Not that much, anyway! So I don’t really know what else to blog about (maybe i really am vain) so I have decided to hand it over to you guys!!!

I mean girls.

Ahah anyway, All I’m asking you to do is to tell me what goes on in your head, what you want to see on the blog (whether you like it the way it is or not) or tell me any blogs that you think would benefit my standard of err.. blogging.

love ya!

Awesome nail art…

Hey guys! Sooo… since I haven’t been blogging/nail arting recently very much, i thought it would be nice to do that today! Basically, this post is just going to show you a few of me and my friends fave nail arts, and our opinions! Hope you like it!

Sara: The detail is really nice, but I’m not sure If I would wear it!
Holly: I really like it! Swirly and stuff!!! Soo totally cool… I wanna know how to do it!
Beth: Yeah I don’t really like that one…..

Sara: Thats really sweet! I love this one.. it reminds me of fairys and tons of other things from my childhood!
Holly: Too babyish
Beth: Um… You should get someone else to do this- i feel like all im gonna say is no no no!

Sara: It is nice, but a bit too long for me! If it was without the black bit i would love it.
Holly: Yeah, its nice, but i prefer the psychedelic nail art!
Beth: This one is really nice, i love the little beady-things!

Sara: Dawh! So cute!
Holly: Where are you getting all these from? They are like kids stuff o.O
Beth: I agree with you, Sara, its totally cute, but it is too kiddish for me!
Sara: Ugh guuys wheres your inner child?

Sara: Love it! So sweet and sugary!
Holly: Really pretty, but the next nail art I’m gonna choose!
Beth: Oooh, now that is something i really want! Where can I buy?!

Sara: Ewwwww! too long too long.. thats like gross!
Holly: Ugh. I really like them, Sara!
Beth: eeeeerm… yuck!

Sara:now these are the coolest nails in the world.
Holly: Yes.
Beth: Yes!

so i guess we came to a conclusion! Love em all though… exept from the second last one.. i mean, who would actually wear them?!

red nose day

sooo… as most of you guys have probably noticed, red nose day is coming up! And I thought it would be just perfect if I did a fashion post on outfits for red nose day! At most schools, you will have a casual day, and at work it is always nice to wear something red-nose day related! And if you are at home or whatever, its still nice to do something! So, to start you off I’m going to show you a quick pic of Jessie J with her red nose day attire!

Beautiful, right? Now you want to look just as good as her, but perhaps you want to fit in a bit more to your surroundings? I know how you feel! So I have put together a collection of different outfits that are red nose day related that YOU would be comfortable wearing!

to school:

to work:

around the house:

party: