November 25, 2024

A Daughter’s Worth: Week 11 / Day 5 – Be Confident of God’s Involvement

December 14, 2012 by

Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart

         and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding.

  Proverbs 3:5-6

How many of you know that it is difficult to let go of certain things that concern us personally? To be honest with you, it use to be almost impossible for me to let go of anything that concerned me in any way. I use to feel like I was the only one who would be able to fix whatever needed fixing.

Well, I was busy with a process that involved the future of me and my immediate family. Although I prayed about this process and what needed to be done, I was all over the place. I did endless research; I read whatever was said about this process we were involved in. I worried whenever I submitted something, and I use to get agitated with my husband whenever he took too long completing some paperwork. Well, needless to say that we were not successful completing the process.

Things only started to fall in place once I surrendered everything, and I mean everything to God and admitted that I did not understand what is going on and need Him to direct my path.

What you have to understand is that God only wants what is best for His children. We might think that a certain person will make us happy, or if we can just get a particular outfit or whatever we are into at the moment; but God knows exactly what we need, and His plans for our lives are far more awesome than what we can ever imagine.

I was so inspired by the following scripture in the Amplified Bible. Hebrews 13:5

Let your character or moral disposition be free from love of money [including greed, avarice, lust, and craving for earthly possessions] and be satisfied with your present [circumstances and with what you have]; for he [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [ Assuredly not!]

Oh my, what an  awesome assurance!!!!

Girls, I want to challenge you today to be confident of God’s involvement in your lives. Know that God has your best interest at heart.

Let’s Pray:

Father, thank You for each girl who will read this blog. Thank You that we don’t have to be worry about anything and that we can trust You with our every need. We admit today that we need You to guide us and be with us in all of our endeavors.   Amen.

If you are interested in joining us in our GCH:decaf Teen Girls Ministry, please click the sign-up form button at the top of our webpage. Just follow the instructions on the form and hit submit. We’ll be happy to add you to one of our Online Bible Study Groups! Please email GCH_Decaf@girlfriendscoffeehour.com for more information.

Filed Under: Teens Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A Daughter’s Worth – Week 9/Day 5 – God’s Presence is Unmistakable

November 30, 2012 by

Girls, as an International English Teacher, I have been fortunate to travel to different countries. One of my teaching assignments was in the Middle East. My daughter and I lived in Qatar for 3 years.

Qatar is a Muslim country and as you can imagine, you could not find Bibles and Christian reading material in the book stores, no gospel or Christmas music were heard on the radio, no Jesus t-shirts  were worn and no church steeples were visible from a far.

At first I thought I would be miserable having to live and work with non-believers and teaching kids who don’t believe in the God I serve and love.

Although I could not talk to my students about God, as is the case in the USA and other countries, I could show them the God I serve by the way I presented myself; my positive attitude; the way I did my work- always well prepared; the loving, welcoming atmosphere in my classroom.

I have found myself in foreign countries on numerous occasions, and not all of them have been positive. I remember a time when the Head of the English Department tried to get rid of me, saying that I did not do my work properly. On another occasion in the USA, I had parents who complained to the principal about my accent, they could not understand how a South African could teach their kids English. One year, before school started, I had a parent asking for her child to be removed from my class because the kid did not understand me, this was a kid that I have never met before, I did not even know what the child looked like!!!!!! But you know what? My God promises in His Word that He will always be with me.

Well, as you can imagine, on both occasions I kept my job, and that boy stayed in my class and passed his End of Grade test for the first time!

 

Be blessed!

Edwina

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Let’s Pray:

Lord Jesus, I thank You for this wonderful group of girls. Thank You for being present in their lives wherever they find themselves. I ask that it will be their desire to serve You with all that they have, that they will always shine Your light. Bless each one of them as they go about pursuing their studies, in Jesus name I pray, Amen.

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For the A Daughter’s Worth Online Bible Study, you will need the book, your Bible, pen or pencil, a highlighter and a quiet place. You can order the book right through our website from clicking the sign-up form button at the top of our webpage.

If you are interested in joining us in our GCH:decaf Teen Girls Ministry, please click the sign-up form button at the top of our webpage. Just follow the instructions on the form and hit submit. We’ll be happy to add you to one of our Online Bible Study Groups! Please email GCH_Decaf@girlfriendscoffeehour.com for more information.

Filed Under: Teens Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

A Daughter’s Worth Week 7/ Day 5: Families Bless Us

November 16, 2012 by

Proverbs 17:6

Children’s children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children.

Ok girls, how many of you grew up in the perfect family where everyone is always happy and smiling? Where no one is trying to put the blame on somebody else and mom and dad never exchange dirty looks or utter harsh words? I wish I could put my hand up and say that I grew up in the perfect family, but that would be a lie!

I am one of 5 children, I have 3 brothers and 1 sister. My mom has been married 3 times and all 3 husbands passed away. When my mom was 6 months pregnant with me, my dad, her 2nd husband was hit by a train. I was about 2 years old when she married again and about 4 when my baby brother was born.

I remember being extremely jealous of the new addition to our family because he had someone to call dad. But what an amazing man my step dad was. Even though he had his very own son, he still treated the 4 of us as his own. He put the 4 of through college, and when my brother was in his senior year in high school, my step dad passed away and the 4 of us stepped up and was able to pay my baby brother’s college tuition.

Things might not always be the way we want them to be, but when we think back on everything that has happened in our lives , we can see how God and our families have blessed us.

Our parents might work on our nerves at times, they might fail and dissapoint us, they might give us advice that we think we don’t need because we know it all. But just think back on who was there to hold your hand when you did not feel well, who made you cookies when that guy dumped you, or who paid for that outfit that you really, really wanted. We might not always agree with everything they say and do, but our families are a blessing.

Be blessed!

Edwina

Let us pray:

Father God, today we want to thank you for our families. Although we do not always get along, we want to thank you for each one of them. I pray that in tough situations we will come to You, knowing that You know best and will guide us in the right direction. Amen.

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For the A Daughter’s Worth Bible Study, you will need the book, your Bible, pen or pencil, a highlighter and a quiet place. You can order the book right through our website from clicking the sign-up form button at the top of our webpage.

If you are interested in joining us in our GCH:decaf Teen Girls Ministry, please click the sign-up form button at the top of our webpage. Just follow the instructions on the form and hit submit. We’ll be happy to add you to one of our Online Bible Study Groups! Our new study is A Daughter’s Worth! Please email megan@girlfriendscoffeehour.com for more information

Filed Under: Teens Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A Daughter’s Worth Week 1: Handling Stress at School

October 5, 2012 by

 

Growing up I had a pretty easy, happy childhood for the most part. My only stress at the time was my friends. They used to tease me endlessly about my long legs and small frame; I became ‘daddy long legs’ to them, which hurt me terribly. I used to hate going to school, at one point I requested to change classes, but that did not happen, I just could not handle the name calling anymore. Until my late 20’s I was under-weight, I remember wanting to donate blood, but couldn’t because of my weight. That however was my only stress at the time.

As a teacher, I see many students under different types of stress. As educational requirements get more stringent in all levels of education, students everywhere experience considerable school stress. You have to make good grades to attend good schools after high school. You have to make honor roll in order to participate in extra-curricular activities, to get that iPod touch, new phone, dress, watch, etc. Your teachers, parents, coaches, youth leaders, they all seem to expect so much of you! Sometimes you just want to yell,” Give me a break you guys, I’m only a kid!”

Now academics are not the only stress you have to deal with. Extra-curricular activities can also become extremely daunting, especially when one of your parents excelled in a certain sport and they want you to follow in their footsteps. The other stressor that is becoming quit alarming is that of bullying. Bullies come in different forms and they are all pretty harmful. You might be hurt by your so-called friends who bad mouthed you just to get some type of recognition; enduring the teasing by the popular click at your school for not wearing the latest fashion, wearing your hair in a certain style, playing in the school band or just being real clever. Whatever it might be, there will always be someone who find fault with what it is you are doing, how you do it. The Bible tells us in Psalms 139:14 that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

At times when you might feel like everything is coming undone, remember that you don’t have to suffer alone; you can talk to your parents, youth pastor, a trusted friend or a teacher. If you need extra help with your school work, you can ask a teacher to assist you before or after school, you can also work out a study plan that will help you understand and remember facts and formulae’s. You might even get a study buddy who is stronger in a specific subject and can help you.

Remember that changing your wardrobe, wearing your hair in a different style might not be the answer. Surround yourself with people who like you for who you are, people who love God. All the world’s potatoes were not going to fatten up my skinny legs, I had to accept myself for who I was, skinny, long legs and all.

It might seem that as a teenager a lot is expected of you, but believe me,” You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you”!

Let us pray:

Father, thank you for every girl represented in these groups. Thank you that we can give You our stress and that You will deal with it accordingly. Thank you for Your promise that no weapons formed against us shall prosper. You are in control in our lives and we love You very much. Amen.

Be blessed my friends!

Edwina

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For this Bible Study, you will need the book, your Bible, pen or pencil, a highlighter and a quiet place. We will begin the devotional part of this study next week, so really, you have until NEXT MONDAY to get your book! You can even order it right through our website from clicking the sign-up form button at the top of our webpage.

If you are interested in joining us in our GCH:decaf Teen Girls Ministry, please click the sign-up form button at the top of our webpage. Just follow the instructions on the form and hit submit. We’ll be happy to add you to one of our Online Bible Study Groups! Our new study is A Daughter’s Worth! Please email teens@girlfriendscoffeehour.com for more information.

Filed Under: Teens Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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