Writing the Joy of Every Glorious Day... - Vacation and school...wait a minute! I can't put both of those words in the same sentence, can I???

Sep. 1, 2009 - Vacation and school...wait a minute! I can't put both of those words in the same sentence, can I???

Hey everyone!

Thanks for all your well-wishing : ) We had a great vacation. The plane ride home wasn't exactly smooth...but we made it here safely, thank the Lord. There was an hour delay and lots of turbulence, etc, etc. Anyway, we're home now.

Yesterday (Monday) we started school! It went very well, as well as today's work so far. I have Chemistry and Algebra 2 this year which are both a little daunting to me! Math and science are not my best subjects. However, my history book looks like it will be good and my literature book. Those are my favorite subjects : ) I also usually enjoy grammar, although this year my book seems exactly like the book I had last year. Well, I guess that should make it easy!

Tonight is our first speech and debate meeting of the year! I am really looking forward to it. This will be my second year of speech, first year of debate. I am a little nervous. Oh, under this post, I will be posting one of my speeches. Please read it if you have a chance, and let me know what you think! It is only the second draft, so I still have lots of editing to do! Your changes and ideas will definitely be appreciated so please read and comment. And don't worry, this is NOT that boring economics speech that I was telling you about recently ;-)

Well, I guess that about covers it! Please read the speech! I greatly appreciate your input. You'll find it right under my signature...

In Christ,

Christine

An Original Oratory

The day when I learned that my Dad was deploying to Iraq. The hour that I found out my wisdom teeth would have to be removed. And the minutes before I gave my very first speech. What do these three times have in common? Worry. Would my Dad be safe? How painful would the surgery be? My audience, would they laugh at me or reject my words? I believe that worry is one of the most debilitating emotions in our society today. When people allow themselves to worry, they are not only sinning in the eyes of God, but are also allowing themselves to be held back from doing great things. Held back by fear of what people may think of them. Today, I would like to delve into some Scriptures about worry, list several of the bad effects that worry has on our thinking, as well as pointing out some of the good effects that it has already made upon us, and finally give you some pointers on how to live a "worry-free" lifestyle.

To begin with the Scriptures, one of the most well-known verses about worry is Matthew 6:25. It says, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?" You know, I think that one of the reasons that this verse is so well-known is because it really covers two of the biggest causes of worry. What we will eat and what we will wear. How often have people found themselves wondering about where their next meal will come from, or how they will be able to dress? I would like to take a moment to tell you about a man, who learned to turn over all of his cares and worries to God with prayer. His name was George Mueller and he lived in the 1800s. After spending some time in prison, George went through a miraculous change of heart and gave himself to the Lord. He then began an orphanage in Bristol, England. He ended up with several orphanages and by the end of his life, he had housed, fed and clothed over 10,000 parent-less children. Now he was not a wealthy man. No, he depended completely upon God for the money to provide for his needed buildings, clothing and food. To put your trust in God and allow Him to provide for you fully does not mean to sit back and watch for your needs to be fulfilled without working at it. It simply means to put your best effort forward and to have faith that God will reward you for that. Another verse about worry is Matthew 6:27, which says "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" The answer to this question is, of course, none of us. Worrying does nothing in the way of extending our time here on this earth. In fact, it seems to do just the opposite. This brings us to the second part of my speech, the bad effects of worry and the good effects of not worrying.

A study was recently done using samples from surveys taken between 1986-1989 and 1995-2005. The result of this study showed serious results to another type of worry. Worry about the security of your job. The surveys showed that "chronic job insecurity was a stronger predictor of poor health than either smoking or hypertension". Clearly worry does nothing to aid our struggles. Instead, it eats away at us and ends up affecting those around us also. Remember how I told you about how I was worried when I found out that my wisdom teeth were to be removed? Well, on the way to the oral surgeon's office, I expected to be quite scared. However, both of my parents lent a very relaxed feeling to me and helped my greatly in my own struggle not to worry. Later, my mom told me that she had actually been extremely nervous about the surgery, but she knew that if she had let me see her true feelings, that my nerves would only be increased. You see, by allowing herself to be calm and relaxed, my mom helped me to have the same type of attitude and put me much more at ease. Yet another example, is that of the man who I was telling you about earlier. Even when George found himself without anything to feed the orphans, he kept a completely positive attitude and saved the children from much worry themselves. And God blessed him for this, by sending him his needed items in miraculous ways. So we can see that God will bless those who obey Him by trusting in Him. But He is certainly not going to reward those who waste their time away by worrying.

Now that you understand the part that worry plays in our lives, I'm sure you want some tips on how to begin your journey down a worry-free road. The first one may seem obvious, but it is the most important of all. You absolutely must keep a personal relationship with God. Without Him in your life, you will constantly find yourself stressed and worried. And simply professing to be a Christian is not enough. You must have a day-to-day walk with Him, talking to Him in prayer and studying His Word. This, above all, will send you far on your way to living with less stress. Also you could try this. If you find yourself worrying about the worst-case scenario, think of at least five positive scenarios that could be happening instead. For example, say your daughter was supposed to be babysitting until 10 PM and you find that at 10:30 she still isn't home. Instead of immediately deciding that something terrible must have happened, try to focus on more positive scenarios, say that she got stuck in traffic on the way home, or the parents just stayed out a little later than they had planned. Don't let yourself fall into the trap of pessimism. This is exactly what God despises. He wants us to stay totally focused on Him for support and not to let our negative emotions to get in the way. One more thing that you should do if you start to worry, is simply to take action. You will feel much worse if you just sit back and imagine horrible things, when you could be actually doing something about it.

So now I have shown you what the most important source of all, the Bible, has to say about worry, discussed the negative effects that worry can have on your health and those close to you, as well as several of the good effects that not worrying leads to, and finally I gave you three pointers on how to live a more worry-free lifestyle. These included, a personal relationship with God, keeping a positive outlook, and taking action to reverse your fears, instead of just letting them grow. It is my desire to see our society worry less and trust God more.

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Comments

Sep. 5, 2009 - Ew...science.

Hey Girlie!

I'm Brittany...may i just say that your writing is so enjoyable to read. You're very good at writing those debate speeches. Bravo!

haha, math and science aren't my favorites either...
i'm like you. History and Literature all the way!
:)

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Sep. 5, 2009 - <em>Untitled Comment</em>

cool speech... makes you think... WAIT A MINUTE.... this is the weekend! Why think? :D lol

aw, don't worry about algebra two this year... i have the same thing and it ain't that bad. CHEMISTRY on the other hand.... :P

when r u sending moi shoes? ;)

LUV U!!!!!
<33
Katy

Edited by aliveagain13 on Sep. 5, 2009 at 1:48 PM

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Sep. 5, 2009 - Passions...

Yeah...
isn't passion incredibly wonderful?
I feel bad for those who aren't passionate about something.
I can't imagine doing something with my life that I wasn't passionate about.

No problem! I added you, so we can read each others passions more often. lol :)

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Sep. 7, 2009 - Untitled Comment

That is great!
I love your speech! You are a great writer.

Glad you had fun! We started school three weeks ago. I'm happy today is Labor Day, we get a break. :-)

Anyway, haven't heard from you in awhile so thought I'd check back on your blog!
Madison

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Sep. 7, 2009 - Hi!

Hi! I'm Syd.
Nice blog!
[this was just a comment to let you know I stopped by ;-)]
;-)Syd
ps Stop by my blog sometime!

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Sep. 7, 2009 - Untitled Comment

Hehe. Well I guess you got the answer to last weeks question anyhow. Lol

kayaking is so fun! We went last year in co. We sorta had a little water fight. *blushes*

You got the answer to the question semi-right, but you'll have to wait for the full answer next week!!!

Have a great day!!!
•Madison

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Sep. 7, 2009 - =)

Hi again!
Yes I do love to write and that report was alot of fun!

No, our debate is just with our little homeschool co-op. Not professional at all. I admire the professionals greatly because I stink at public speech!

I would love to have you as a friend!
;-)Syd
ps I love the music of the Phantom of the Opera ;-)

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Sep. 8, 2009 - Yeah

Yeah I'm taking Chemistry and Algebra 2 as well. The Chemistry I'm okay with but with math it takes quite some time before I finally understand it.

Timothy

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Sep. 8, 2009 - Untitled Comment

haha it's very very very unprofessional what we do! In fact, we haven't actually started yet. We are just planning it out so... I'll let you know what happens.
;-)Syd

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