"Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold..." Matthew 24:12
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Do certain Bible verses ever haunt you? Well, a couple are currently haunting ol' Debra.
Oooooooo............. ツ
They cling to my mind, waft behind my eyes somewhere until finally I do something. Obey them, share them at Facebook, write blog posts, etc.
Well, here are my latest Oooooooo haunting verses--
"Older women are to teach the young women to love their husbands and children. They are to teach them to think before they act, to be pure, to be workers at home, to be kind, and to obey their own husbands. In this way, the Word of God is honored." ---Titus 2:4,5
Yikes. How often do we see that happening these days? Especially considering we're all older than someone(!) and the verse did not specify, "If you don't have a teaching gift, Honey, you're exempt'.
Yikes.
Man, I think we're royally messing this one up. If we weren't, wouldn't we see hundreds of memes and stories, say at Facebook, instructing younger women how to live wonderful, godly lives? At Twitter, MeWe, also?
Shouldn't there be absolute floods of living-your-best-life encouragement from Christian women since we're all called to it?
Now, whew. Fortunately I see lots of this type of helpfulness in Blogland and at Youtube.
Homestead Tessie and The Somers, via Youtube, are my favorite helpers-of-the-young and color me grateful for the many Youtube women whose hearts haven't turned into popsicles (did you read the verse at the very top?).
I so appreciate those who do not say, "Listen, I'll just help my own family, my own sanity, but that's all I'll risk. People these days are mean."(Maybe because we're not all doing those Titus 2 verses?)
Yes, these days are evil. They are. But no, we can't afford to allow love--the thing more important than faith, even--to freeze into ice blocks.
After all, God said this:
But He never, ever said this (or that it's ok)--
Nor this--
Sadly, I've seen lots of Christian ladies post these. ☹️
Also, some favorite Christian men bloggers and Youtubers keep ending their posts basically with, "Hope is gone! Things are gonna get really bad in 2021." (Then they don't add specifics of how to fix things.)
Wow. There's a heavy price to pay when any of us teach, then leave our listeners, hopeless. That reflects upon our own lack of faith, not Truth.
When we reach Heaven? I believe we'll have tons of 'Aha! moments' and one will be this--
"Social media was an incredible ministry tool provided by God, Himself. What enormous potential was there to teach, encourage, spread hope and love to others."
At Facebook I have two friends who do those Titus 2 verses faithfully, consistently. Two out of 144. They spread hope, practical advice and encouragement to us all nearly everyday.
Of course you do not have to be on social media to obey Titus 2. (I must share disclaimers these days or people freak out.) But if you prefer so-called Real Life, I hope you're busy there instructing younger women in whatever many uplifting ways God nudges you.
Summing this up, it was written--
"Jesus did many other (helpful) things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written." ---John 21:25
--and wouldn't it be wonderful if we arrived in Heaven and heard that we came in a close second or third? Hmm?
"So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." ---1 Corinthians 13:13
Your family doesn't want your help in this area? Reach out of that circle and find the ones who yearn for your advice.
Whatever God asks us specifically to do, He provides everything we need, including all boldness and mental and spiritual stamina. All we must do is receive those things--and go. Do them.
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For two years (3?) I've worked on creating a capsule wardrobe, one each for spring/summer and autumn/winter.
In fact, here's my out-and-about winter capsule wardrobe--
(As with all my photos, Real Life looks much nicer.) シ
Yep. That's it, except for my leggings, scarves and a black and white top I'm considering buying. Oh and some pieces are cross-overs for the other season, the flyaway sweaters, for example.
I have loved this capsule wardrobe adventure. How wonderful to feel comfortable (everything stretches) and that I look my best wherever I go.
But man, not till recently did I think to check Youtube for more wardrobe hints. (Gee, I'm slow. Gah.) What a plethora of wardrobe help is there!
Here below are just a few favorite videos and helpful ladies, ones who use their God-gifted wardrobe talents to help the rest of us not naturally abled--
There are oodles more! Do a Youtube search and you'll find everything in this area that you need. And be sure to keep it fun.
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"The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." ---Galations 5:6
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2 comments:
Good Morning Debra. Great words in this post. I admit, it was much easier to do this when we were able to get out and about and go to church and see younger women on a regular basis. However, I AM still trying. Of course, when you present God's view on womanhood, wives and mothers, onto social media you must be prepared for the opposite view to attack. I've seen horrible things said to Christian ladies who present the Biblical view of womanhood in a kind and compassionate way on FB be completely decimated by other women for daring to disagree with the worldly view. Of course, that shouldn't stop us because we were told that would happen.
I need to be braver and less apt to having hurt feelings.
I hope you have a wonderful day Debra.
Blessings and love,
Betsy
Hi Betsy! As always, thanks for commenting as I always appreciate what you have to say. And in this case? I must reiterate what I added to my post earlier---it's up to us to find those who are longing for our advice. I mean, I've never gone through that kind of hatred you mentioned seeing in comments. Never! Yet nearly every day I share ways to become a godly woman. So again, I believe what happened was someone not finding the right audience and sometimes not sharing with the correct tone or even truths, too. But always there will be women out there who would love to hear what we have to share and it becomes our responsibility to let God lead us right to them, then to be led by Him in what we say afterward. It's a wonderful adventure, actually, and great practice for being led by the Spirit in all other situations, as well. Thanks again and I hope you're staying warm and happy in your new home (I'm sure you are)! :) Blessings, Debra
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