Dwell on this things

"Finally, brethren, Whatever is true (real, authentic, sincere, not deceitful, accurate, correct) 

Whatever is honorable (worthy of honor and high respect, noble, creditable) 

Whatever is right (good, proper, or just; correct) 

Whatever is pure (clean, innocent, chaste, free from blemish, guiltless) 

Whatever is lovely (delightful, highly pleasing; of great moral or spiritual beauty) 

Whatever is of good repute (favorable reputation, admirable) 

If there is any excellence (merit, virtue; outstanding quality) 

And if anything worthy of praise (commendable) 

Dwell (linger over, emphasize, or ponder in thoughts) 

On these things." -Philippians 4:8 Blessings! 

The next post coming on Wednesday! :)

Update time :)

Hello friends, I know I've been gone for a long time. And I do have my reasons. Life just caught up with me. Happy days, hectic ones, problems and unhappy days. But I know that God is in control. If you follow me on social media, you should know that I've decided to give it a break. I'm taking a break from all social media apps and websites that I have, except YouTube, tumblr, and blogger. Oh and another big reason for my absence is because my laptop stopped working and that has slowed me down a bit. But thankfully I'll try to post from my phone. 

Expect new posts every Wednesdays or Sundays! 

God bless all!  

Your sis in Christ, 

Zipporah :)

A NEW START

Did I fail to see the sunshine

Or to hear the bluebird call

Did I count my many blessings

When God's love was over all

Had I closed my eyes to goodness

And the beauty of the day

How then could God still help me

When with thanks I failed to pray

Well, because He's ever faithful

Understanding, kind and true

He filled my heart with better thoughts 

With these He let me start anew.

BY: Audrey mcdaniel

Someone patient... ( I've written a book!, it's a really long blog post.)

What  a great God we serve.

This past week of my life has been really wonderful and such a blessing to me. I can't even begin to fathom how good God has been to me.

It all started last Sunday when I was battling my faith and beliefs. I started to doubt God a lot and believe that He was not real. Like what other non-christian people were telling me. It's quite sad now that I think about it. And all of that doubting had to begin somewhere. Somewhere known as the year 2013 to 2014. Those two years were one of the hardest years in my 17 years of living. I had to face some hardships and those hardships caused my faith and trust in God to dwindle. It was a life of staying up all night on a school night thinking about my life and why what was happening was happening to me. I wondered if God was just causing all the pain I was enduring emotionally and mentally. I ended up blaming Him for everything.


I stopped reading the Bible and started following the worlds way of doing things. I was opening the door for Satan to come and invade my life. Even praying was hard for me to do. I thought of praying, but my mouth couldn't move when I wanted to. I was stuck in the misery of my own self. I was battling things no one knew about, but of course God did. But He was the one person that could help me that I shut out. I shut God out for a really long time. Though I didn't do much to nothing ( I was busy thinking that life was not worth fighting for). And thinking of leaving God gave Satan a wide door to my heart and mind. Which was a terribly bad thing.


I thought of going to one of my family members, but even they were battling demons of their own. And plus, our family life was another story. We were far from perfect, just like any other families. We had a different standpoint when it came to religion. We were not on the same page. Still are not, but only God can fix that problem.

At this point I had given up trying in life. I started to become really lazy about everything, from school work, to chores, to everything. It was really bad. At the back of my mind I knew that all of this was not God's fault, but I was not ready to accept that. I thought it was too risky. Why? I don't know. So I continued my life that way until the spring of 2014 when I came upon a bunch of blogs online. Blogs that were written by young girls my age. Blogs that glorified God. For some reason that really excited me and I started to read them at school and anytime that I could. They were Just simple blogs that recommended Christian books and the struggles girls face and things as such. One really helpful blog was called maidens of worth. 

It helped me so much that I started to regret the way I lived. I then knew that I had to make big changes in my life. And I did, but those changes lasted for 2 months. School had come to an end and summer had began. But I again went back to my old ways that summer. It was not as bad as before but it was still bad, considering I was neglecting God. And that was a really bad idea, because I knew what I needed to do but it was like I was caged and couldn't move if I wanted to. Nothing made me happy, not even worldly ways. I swam in depression. I was gripped tightly by my own negative thoughts I didn't know how to escape. So I accepted that and thought their was no point in living life. For after all, life was only miserable. 

The whole summer passed with me wanting to go back to God but having little strength to. I now know that Satan was holding me back and I let him. So I tried being happy in front of everyone, but inside I was fighting my own self. Nothing could make me happy. I was completely and utterly miserable. It felt like I was being held tightly in a dark place, screaming but no one could hear me. I lived this way until school opened again in the fall of 2014. 

I went back to God again and started doing my devotions every morning. Not missing a single day. But I saw no change in my life so I went to worldly amusements again. And the routine started again and again. Going back to God when I wanted to and quitting when I saw no change or that spark that people say they have when they know God dearly. Things got bad in family matters and that just made me feel worse. That just pushed me to the limit of abandoning my Bible for awhile. A long 2 and a half months. I made friends I shouldn't have associated myself with in school and I talked like how a Christian shouldn't. But mind you this I knew I was hurting God but I didn't care. I thought that as long as I didn't deny him verbally I was good. I thought that as long as I didn't do that I was still a good person and I could go back to Him whenever I pleased.

How wrong was I now that I think back. I might have not denied God verbally but I was denying him inwardly and with my actions in every way possible. To think I could have been happier without God was a really big mistake I regret to this day. 

It was around the end of November 2014 that I told myself I will change before the new year commences. I got rid of all worldly things I had, even my friendship ( that was hard to let go, I don't exactly like hurting peoples feelings). And by all I mean ALL. And that made me more prone to temptation. But I din't give in for awhile, but then I did give in one day. And that was when I was tired of the routine of going back to God and then leaving Him. I was tired, period! 

So I thought, read,  and watched sermons and one specific one that was preached by brother Lemon caught my attention. If I remember correctly he had said that people keep coming to God expecting a tremendous change when they are still holding on to their worldly ways. One day they would devote their life to God, and the next day it will be to the world. That statement changed everything, because that was exactly me! I was the person with that routine of loving and not loving. And now I see why I was so miserable. It was either give all to God and being content or loving the world and being Sad. I obviously chose God. 

I am the kind of person that if I'm not fully focusing on God, I leave Him wholly. Because, why love the world and love God at the same time? It doesn't work that way. You either give Him your whole or nothing. It might be hard to let go, but it's completely worth it, I promise. It wasn't only brother lemon--with the help of God that changed me. It was me spending a night where I sobbed and screamed and asked God why? It was me fasting and crying to him to please help me learn how to give him all and be happy and content doing so. I spent days being tempted to the point of just crying and feeling miserable. But the next morning I would wake up and feel really proud of myself for not becoming a slave to a temptation. It's a wonderful feeling. 

I've recently loved this two song so MUCH!! 

I want you all to know that you are not alone. Someday you will come to that time when you sob and spend nights praying with no sleep at all. Those nights when all you do is ask God and cry for having done so much to Him. Those nights where you let go and give Him your all. Those nights when you promise and actually keep that promise. Those nights when you let go of all your worldly ways, and want to be as perfect as His son Jesus was. Those nights when you finally detest everything the world has to offer, but thirst and hunger for everything God has to offer in this world. That's when you will be changed. You will be changed when your heart and mind wants all that God has to offer. You will be changed if you keep up that one routine of loving God and God only. And then you will learn to yearn to please and do his work at all times. You're hearing this from someone who has gone through this. It's all worth it. Everything else will fall to place once you give God everything. 

Faith and works go hand in hand. Don't listen to anyone that says all you need is faith and God's grace. What about the works? Jesus did the work and showed us that it's possible. So why can't we? 

Though the road might be bumpy in this journey. The reward is perfect. Just keep pleasing God no matter the rain or the sunshine. 
Be the one that God says to on that precious day "Well done good and faithful servant." You have got to be faithful just as He is to us. Don't forget!


______________________________________________________





I hope this post has been a tremendous blessing to you all. Just a little insight on what I've been going through and that I've not always been the perfect Christian. And I'm still not. But I strive to be just that with God's help. 


Blessings, 
Your sister in Christ,
Zipporah. 

How sweet

How sweet to place

my trust in Thee

To know how much

Thou dost love me

To come to Thee

with saddened face

Receive from Thee

the smile of grace. 

sacred thoughts By: Audrey Mcdaniel

Is it tradition, a custom, or blindly following? ( EDITION: VALENTINES DAY)

Yes, here is another post about yet another common and worldly pagan celebration. Personally I think people blindly follow so many holidays because of being brought up that way and not knowing much about it, but to follow them. You never hear people really giving the true reasons of so many of this pagan holidays that are not even in the Bible to begin with. Shouldn't that be a warning to look it up if it's not even in the Bible? Or shall we be blind Christians? I mean I know that most just celebrate to confirm to this many pagan holidays. But as one of the videos below say, "Trusting in your heart is deceiving." And I'm sure there is a Bible verse that says not to trust in your heart. Don't just say your going to celebrate something because "Oh, I just feel like it's right." Don't you ever wonder why the color red? Why the heart shaped things? Why the flowers and letters even? Why a chubby baby called cupid? In what way is Jesus/God involved in all of this? Oh! And where in the Bible do we find anything about this holiday? So many unanswered questions! 

Why should us Christians compromise our ways to fit in to man's ways? Why should we follow man's principles when God is there? Wouldn't God, the beginning and the end, have thought about separating up a day where love can be celebrated between families and couples? I mean, if He thought it right, He would have spoken through the prophets right? Or am I missing something? This are Just questions to think about. 

A fact: The National Retail Federation polled 6,417 consumers in early January 2014 to ask about their Valentine's Day plans. It turns out, 54 percent of Americans will celebrate with loved ones this year and the average amount they will spend on candy, cards, dinner and gifts is $133.91.

Just one person spends that much! Imagine adding up that number to all of those people. It becomes a really big number doesn't it? But shouldn't we be using our money on things that matter and glorify God. I know I know, why make a big deal about such an innocent 24 hour celebration? More of a reason to talk about it. 

Listen, Satan has tricked us into making this celebration as innocent and harmless as he wanted to, and it has succeeded with how many people observe it. 

And plus there should be a red flag if this celebration is so popular even among non-believers. That always calls for a research! ( Well at least for me.) 

How beautiful and true this words are, but do you see any of them saying to love on a "specific day"? Pour candy and heartfelt letters on a "special day"? Why not? 

Do you wonder that MAYBE God's intentions were/is that we love one another everyday than setting a day where we love someone extra harder? 

This world makes things questionable the more you learn about the Lord. It's saddening to think of that. :( 


From my research I found this to be a really helpful and easy to understand article : 

Celebrated on February 15, Lupercalia (known as the “festival of sexual license”) was held by the ancient Romans in honor of Lupercus, god of fertility and husbandry, protector of herds and crops, and a mighty hunter—especially of wolves. The Romans believed that Lupercus would protect Rome from roving bands of wolves, which devoured livestock and people.

Assisted by Vestal Virgins, the Luperci (male priests) conducted purification rites by sacrificing goats and a dog in the Lupercal cave on Palatine Hill, where the Romans believed the twins Romulus and Remus had been sheltered and nursed by a she-wolf before they eventually founded Rome. Clothed in loincloths made from sacrificed goats and smeared in their blood, the Luperci would run about Rome, striking women with februa, thongs made from skins of the sacrificed goats. The Luperci believed that the floggings purified women and guaranteed their fertility and ease of childbirth. February derives from februa or “means of purification.”

To the Romans, February was also sacred to Juno Februata, the goddess of febris (“fever”) of love, and of women and marriage. On February 14, billets (small pieces of paper, each of which had the name of a teen-aged girl written on it) were put into a container. Teen-aged boys would then choose one billet at random. The boy and the girl whose name was drawn would become a “couple,” joining in erotic games at feasts and parties celebrated throughout Rome. After the festival, they would remain sexual partners for the rest of the year. This custom was observed in the Roman Empire for centuries.

Do not be so certain. Do not assume anything. Do not even take this article’s word for it. Go to history books and encyclopedias. Go to the Bible. Then you will know the real truth behind St. Valentine’s Day. And you will know what God expects you to do about it!  (Please read the rest of this article here:  http://rcg.org/articles/ttbsvd.html)

Just like Christamas and other holidays I will be putting up, it's your decision between God and you about this matter. 

Here are some helpful videos: 

For more videos go on you-tube. 

Please do your research. And always pray pray to our heavenly father! 


I hope this gave you insight on this celebration, though it's past valentines day. God bless!




Your sister In Christ, 
Zipporah!

"The least of these"

"At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done. We will be judged by 'I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I was naked and you clothed me, I was homeless and you took me in.' Hungry not only for bread - but hungry for love. Naked not only for clothing - but naked for human dignity and respect. Homeless not only for want of a room of bricks - but homeless because of rejection."

"When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed."

"It's the greatest poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."

"The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread."

"Our life of poverty is as necessary as the work itself. Only in heaven will we see how much we owe to the poor for helping us to love God better because of them.

-Mother Theresa

For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. - Matthew 25:35-40

~

Isn't so wonderful to know that while we are helping this people that we are actually doing this to Jesus? To me it's just so beautiful to know that. I don't know why but it really is and I'm glad I can be close to God through helping the poor and many more. For I know I am reaching God through this.

~

Lately I have been so engrossed in missionary work ( well the thought of it.) and being able to help people. Whether here in America or somewhere else. I've printed inspirational quotes, and read books ( Mostly Kisses from Katie <3). And just last year I watched Mother Teresa's documentary, and let me just say, it had me bawling for who knows how long--well except God. It made me hate my life and how comfortable I was, I just really disliked how a LOT of God's beautiful children were suffering while I was enjoying life. And it wasn't always enjoying life praising God. Sometimes it was enjoying life the worlds way. 

Since I knew I couldn't just up and go to my home country (Kenya) to help people, an idea came up in mind and it was almost as though God was right there speaking to me. I realized that I could be a servant where I was. I could still spread Jesus' love right where I am because though most live comfortable lives here than other countries, most of those comfortable lives are lived worldly--with many not knowing who God is. And those comfortable lives are not that comfortable anyways, because that's just a mask. Most are lonely and depressed. Money can't buy happiness after all. 

So for now I will be a servant right where I am. Even if it's at the Stereotypical High school I attend ( And believe me, the high school I go to makes those stereotypes come to life, sadly). But all I know is, God has me right where He wants me for now. All that is left for me to do, is trust and obey. 

I hope you were blessed with this post. 

Your sister in Christ

Zipporah. 

Photo credits to google and the edit is mine. :)