Mark 12:29-31 " 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

God seems to put a lot of emphasis on love! The most important things to do in following Him are to love Him with everything you have, and to love other people more than you love yourself. Why is that? What is so important about love?

1st John 4:8 "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."

A definition I’ve heard for wickedness is “the absence of God”. If God is love, then we can replace the word “God” with the word “love” and still have the same meaning, right? So wickedness is “the absence of love”! Wow, I guess that might be what’s so important about love, huh?

1st Corinthians 13:1 "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal."

The tongues of angels…I wonder what angels talk about? Well, they are constantly in the presence of God, right? I’d like to think that because of God’s awesomeness, the angels can’t stop talking about Him! He’s just so amazing that everything they could talk about pales in comparison!

So, if we spoke the way that angels speak (talking about God) to other people (as we’ve been called to do), but don’t love those people that we’re talking to, we’re not going to make any impression on them at all! All we’re going to do is be the stereotypical “hypocritical Christian” who is just telling them something to get brownie points from God! A clanging cymbal that everyone just wants to be quiet!

The only way we’re ever going to get people to listen to us when we tell them about God’s love for them, is to show them His love through us!

Matthew 24:12 “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.”

This verse sounds a lot like what’s going on today to me. Love is being distorted by the world around us, even by Christians! All that the world tends to see when they think of love is s*x, or something that is there through the good times, but leaves when the storms of life come. This is a horribly distorted image of love, so much so that we can no longer see the very definition of love (God) in it anymore!

And Christians have similar problems. We “love” others by not telling them about God’s love for them. We say, “Oh, but I don’t want to offend them” or “They’ll think that I’m weird, and that will give them a bad image of Christians”. But really, how can we say we love our friends when we won’t even tell them about the most important thing in our lives? Is it really loving to let them walk blindly through life and then find themselves in hell when they die? No! No, that is not loving at all! That’s the opposite!

Dear friends, I struggle with this too. I am not a “super-Christian” who has brought many to Christ. In all honesty, I’ve never brought someone to Christ. I’ve helped someone rededicate their life to Him, and I’ve been there when someone accepted Christ for the first time, but I’ve never been the one to go up to someone and tell them the good news of Jesus. I think “Oh, they’ll see it in the way I live and if they’re interested they’ll ask me.” And while it is very good to live a life that shows Christ through it, that is not enough. This is something God has convicted me of recently, and I am trying to get better at it, because, as I said, that’s what true love is. It’s caring enough to do the hard things that could offend people, but it could also save them or at least plant a seed in them.

1st Corinthians 13:8 "Love never fails."

But without love you are sure to fail.


~SeaChel

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Marianne Dashwood--a romantic, poetic, young lady who is easily swayed by any man who can recite poetry with feeling.

In the movie sense and sensiblity, we meet this young lady and immediately love her. We know she always has best intentions at heart, and she loves her family more than anything in the world, but her romantic side makes us laugh.

When they move to a small cottage, Marianne meets a certain heartbroken colonel who falls in love with her. She likes him, but he's not as romantic as she has always dreamed of. Because of some rumours which have been spread about the two of them, when he calls she takes a walk to escape from the house--and consequently changes her entire life.

It begins to rain, and she slips and sprains her ankle. Out of nowhere, the most charming, dashing man she's ever seen runs over to help her up. He carries her back to her house where they realize that they both love poetry, and in the blink of an eye Marianne falls in love.

Willoughby and Marianne do not care what other people think about them, but show their love to each other more openly than anyone else in the entire area they lived in, and rumours began to spread like wildfire--but Marianne is too in love to notice.

Suddenly, the formerly rich willoughby loses all of his fortune, and he runs to London on urgent business--leaving Marianne.

Marianne does not give up. She thoroughly believes that he will come back, and continues to write him letter after letter with no reply. Suddenly, the perfect oppurtunity comes up! They are all invited to London! she goes, and sees Willoughby at a dance where she sees him with other ladies. She goes to talk to him, but he is indifferent to her, and treats her the same as he treats her sister. She spends days after days crying, and her heartbreak eventually leads her to putting herself in danger of death. Eventually she learns that Willoughby lost all of his inheritance because of an affair he had with a girl which he then abandoned, so she was now alone with his child she bore.

The Colonel has not given up on his beautiful Marianne, though, and through it all he helps her. I always start crying when he runs out to save her while she is standing in the pouring rain on the hill overlooking Willoughby's house--even though he knows that she's only going because of her love for his enemy. While she is on the brink of death he does whatever he can, and at the end they get married.

How often are we like Marianne, girls? How often can we look past a man's character and only see the romantic outside? How often do we focus on the sweet things he whispers to us or the hugs he gives and look past the past relationships he's had and what he did to them?

We may say "he loves me. He'll change." But he might not. "How do you know, wife, whether you will save your  husband? And how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?" we don't know. that's the point. Don't open yourself up for heartbreak. To quote Taylor Swift, "Look before you fall."

Even if someone is the most romantic, sweet guy you've ever met, they can hide terrible things. Some of the most amazing looking guys are great actors. Be careful. Guard your hearts, for they are the wellspring of life.

But there is a happy side! There will be a perfect husband for you. God is preparing him for you right now. Save yourself for him, mind, body, and soul.

If the guy you have a huge crush on right now is the one for you, HE CAN WAIT. Hear that? If you're 14, and you think you're in love with someone, give him the biggest test of love in the world -- TELL HIM TO WAIT FOR YOU.

I'm praying for you all girls! Don't give yourself to a guy who doesn't deserve you. Wait for the perfect prince.

BeCcA

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Hey everyone!

I just wanted to let ya all know to be praying.

In a Texas army base one of OUR men (and possibly a couple others) attacked and killed many.

I'm not sure what details are but I'm sure if you look on the news it won't be too hard to find.

So just be praying for everyone there and those who have loved ones there!

Thanks.

God bless,

Sheilla Kiwi

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Hi Everyone!

I am sorry it's been quite a while! I still have been looking at blogs, just not typing on my own. lol :)

A lot has been going on!  A few weeks ago for school we made our own bread for the very first time! It was so cool! We watched a video called Homestead Blessings: The Art of Bread Making by the West Family , and we just had to make our own! You can read about our bread making at our Family Blog! Here is sneak peak of our bread!

Also, I have made a new blog! Since I love to write Book Reviews for The Backyard, I created a new blog for Book Reviews. I would love it if you stopped by, You can go to it HERE.

I hope you have a great day!

Love,

Liz

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K, So, idk rlly what 2 post... im thinkin bout postin some of my peoms.. what do u all think? let me know cuz depending on the outcome maybe ill do it. whats new with you all? sry i havent been on much... been kinda busy with facebook n friends n stuff...... but yeah...... well, ttyl!

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Hello,

So for a long time I haven't really written anything really interesting so I thought

I would actually write something.

So for those of you who would like to see pictures of our trip I will post a few

on this post. YAY lol

And for those of you who have been reading my blog and just waiting for

me to actually say something interesting I think that the following might be

interesting enough for you...if not...I'm sorry. haha

I have another blog as some of you may know and it's for girls only. On there I

write bible studies and such. Well I was thinking that I should starting posting

whatever I post on there on here as well...but I will make them able to be read

by boys so all my guy friends on here may read as well. :)

So here is a post that I recently made on Self-control...I hope you like it!

"Then come together so that Satan will not tempt you

because of your lack of self-control."

Corinthians 7:5

Wow. Our lack of self-control? Ouch.

Do we really lack self-control, and if we do what areas of our lives

do we lack? We all lack some self-control sometimes. When your little

brother does something to annoy you

and you throw a fit calling him a jerk, I'd say that's lacking self-control.

When your team looses you start calling the other team cheaters and such

even though they didn't cheet.

Your just mad you lost and need to get it out, right?

Okay, so maybe you don't need to let it out like that. No calling names.

Counting to 10 helps a lot...seriously....it does.

Just take a second, sit down, breathe, and think about WHY you are frustrated.

Really, if you think about it, most of us lack a LOT of self-control.

How else could you respond to the situation?

Annoying little brother-

"Hey Joe that's really bothering me, could you stop or do it

somewhere else, please?"

You could also consider just moving yourself. Take turns. It doesn't

help you by getting worked up about something that could so easily be fixed.

Another thing you could think about is why does whatever hes doing annoy you?

Lost Game-

Just relax. Thats the key. Stay relaxed. I know I sound like some therapist or

something...but it's true!

If you handle things with anger and don't think, things may get worse than

they really need to.

Hurting other people isn't the answer either. If you are frustrated for a

good reason, such as they are hurting you, then talk to a grown up or elder or

go to the person directly and ask them nicely to stop. If things do not

end then it would be a good idea to ask for help from an elder you trust.

And everyone looses sometimes. People see a good sport when you are okay

with the loss and keep working hard to turn it into a win!

There are tons of things that we can get overly obsessed with and thats

something we need to be careful of and watch ourselves on.

In the first part of the verse it says " Come together".

What does that mean? And your reply is, "Well duh! It means come together,

am I right or am I right?"

Well yeah, your right. :) But lets look a little deaper into it, k?

If all of us lack self-control...what will "coming together" do?

Think of it this way-

Satan is this super big buff bad guy who is trying to prevent you

from getting somewhere and break you, mkay?

You trust God. You love God. But you have made some mistakes. Doesn't

sound like it will be too easy for you, now does it?

Now think of it this way-

Satan- big buff guy

You and a TON of other people- who are all followers of Christ! :D

It sounds like you got a lot better chance, doesn't it? Plus you all have

this SUPER AWESOME God to lead you!!

So when it says to come together it meens encourage, love, give advice,

take advice to the others around you. Sometimes it could be a little more

general. God calls us to come together to fight all the evil that is put

before us.

For a little more on the subject pick up your bible and look

up the following verses (feel free to do some of your own research)-

2 Peter 1:5-7

Galations 5:22-23

Please right down any thoughts that you have had along this read, or even

later on in the day! Also, we would love to see any verses that you might

have found while doing some studies. :)

Anyways...so thats it! Please let me know what you think. I am always open to

your comments!

Okay, so now it's time for pictures! I am not able to post pictures with people i

n them so all the pictures that I post will be scenic. I'm sorry, but thats just the

way it goes.

I hope you enjoy!

(The following cannot be coppied. They are my property and you must have

my permission to use them.)

I hope you enjoyed the pictures! I think this is my longest entry ever of close. lol

Well I should go now but I hope y'all have a wonderful day!

God bless,

Sheilla Kiwi

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Hello,

So I don't have much time but I thought I would post some pictures from carving our pumpkins. Here are a few. :) I hope you enjoy and I'll try and post again soon!

I hope y'all have a wonderful day and I'll try and post again soon!

God bless,

Sheilla Kiwi

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What is your favorite video game ever? I love all of them the same!

What is the worst video game ever(in your opinion)? idk.

Where would you choose to live?

1.my house

2.the world that never was

3.destiny islands

4.hollow bastion

Where would you choose to live?

1.?

2.?

3.?

4.?

What kind of super power would you want? Invincibility.

What would your super power be based on who you are? idk

What kind of pet would you like? a jackalope!!!

If someone punched you in the face, what would you do back?

1.punch em' back and then try to talk about it.

2.punch em' back!

3.punch em' back!

4.punch em' back!

5.punch em' back!

Did you like this tag? DUUUUUHHHHHH!Yeah!

Do you want it to end? Not really.

Who is your favorite character from,

Kingdom Hearts. xehanort or xemnas

Sonic the Hedgehog. Shadow

Pokemon. i don't play it.

Pacman. Pacman

Ever, in the whole entire world!! xehanort or xemnas!!!!!!!!!!

Do you like blogging? Yes, very much!

Is this tag over? No.

Who's cooler, your mom or dad? Dad.

Who's nicer, mom or dad? Mom.

Which do you like better, Nobodies or Heartless? nobodies

Is this tag over now? Yes.

I tag booboobecca,and anyone else who wants 2.

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Please do not send me private messages unless I give you permission. I will NOT add anyone as a friend who asks to be my friend in a private message. thank you! And if you want to link back to me, click on my button on the sidebar.

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Hey everyone. :)

I know I know.... I haven't been on in a while... I just don't feel motivated to. :( I'm not even writing in my journal that much any more... which is REALLY weird... oh well.

So today's haloween!!! :D I'm not doing anything.. but might put on a princess dress to hand out candy. :) There's a youth thing at my church tonight.. I don't think that churches should put on stuff other than haloween fairs on Haloween, because I'd rather stay home and hand out candy (I love doing that) but I feel guilty about not going to youth group... and then you can't get together with your friends, because there's youth group on, and you feel guilty about going to your friends house for haloween instead of being at youth group...

It's a giant guilt trip. xD

I'm thinking of having a journal ON my computer, because then I can just copy and paste all my entries from both my journal and my blog(s) onto each other instead of having to go write it out over and over and over again. :P Is it a good idea? I mean, I write a ton every day, but most of it is on the computer and it just takes soo long to write everything out again into my physical journal I usually never take the time to. Oh well. Maybe when I'm done the journal I'm using now I'll do it. :) Or maybe I'll do both at the same time. Or maybe the journal I'm using now will be my devotion journal... I'll figure it out. ^_^

OOH! I updated ibeauty. :) I got SOO many questions! thanks for sending them in, everyone! Keep them coming! Even if you think it's a stupid question, I love having people ask me things. It shows they're reading. :)

And yes, there are stupid questions. if you asked "I'm a brunette and don't like my hair colour. How can I make my hair turn blonde without using any chemicals?" I would just skip over that one. For the obvious reason. There is no way. You have to use the dreaded chemicals. :) I"m going to get my hair highlighted again soon.. you can totally see my roots... not attractive. =p

Sooo yeah that's about it... :)

Toodles!

BeCcA

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Hey,

so I'm just posting this for a picture contest and I didn't want to post it on my main blog. hehe :D

So here it is!-

I'll talk to y'all later! :D

God Bless,

Sheilla Kiwi

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