Trust

I wrote this a while ago...

If trusting means letting go

I’m not sure I wanna know.

If letting go means walking away

Well, I’d really rather stay

I know it’s wrong to delay

Isn’t there another way?

I’d rather You used another plan

Why can’t he really be “The Man”?

 

I told You once in You I’d trust

Now I wonder if I really must.

But of course I do,

When I think it through

How to could I think I know best?

Only You know all the rest

I can’t see the future, only the past

I know many things don’t really last

So help me God, to trust in You

Even when it’s so hard to do

I will let go of the old me

And then I know I’ll really see

 

If trusting means letting go

I wanna show I love You so

So I’d much rather walk away

And have You to light my every day.

~Rachel :)

My life isn't very long
I know it really won’t last
So make what I do stay strong
To remain when life’s past

One day the memory of me
Will be a name on a list
So make what I do count
Before I am missed


I don’t need to be wealthy
Nor do I need great fame
But what I really want
Is to stay true to Your name

I don’t want to be luke-warm
That is my greatest fear
So teach me to be faithful
And please be always near

Though my life may seem long
Teach me to number my days
That to You I’ll ever be strong
And of Your love count the ways

For Young Women Only

No, it's ok to read this if you're a guy, For Young Women Only is just the title of a book I've been reading =D, although this post is more addressed to girls.

The book title is rather intriguing though, isn't it? I had seen it in a bookstore and it got me rather curious too. An excerpt from the back cover asks "Why are guys so weird?"
Well that's a good question isn't it?! I mean, do you ever feel like guys are so strange and sometimes they get really mad at things that aren't really worth getting mad at? Well the other day I went to my friends’ house and found this book she had left out because she thought I might want to read it! I was so thrilled! So I started reading...and it was actually quite interesting. The authors (Shaunti Feildham and Lisa A. Rice) have conducted surveys for guys to take to find out how they really thought and felt about different things. And it’s so fascinating! I learned tons of things about guys that I had no idea about. For example, did you know that most guys would rather be unloved and alone than feel disrespected and inadequate? I knew that y’know; women should respect their husbands, but actually all guys have a huge need to be respected by girls. Respect to them is more important than love! (BTW, this survey polled American guys ages 15 – 20 and said 63% of guys would rather feel alone and unloved, while only 37% would rather feel inadequate and disrespected) Wow!
I kept reading… It talked about how we tease guys. We love to tease don’t we? I know I can tease my brothers quite awfully. But according to FYWO, or the surveys they took, teasing guys can be torture to them! Are you scared yet? I was! I mean, how many times have I “harmlessly” teased my brothers (i.e. about their haircuts, skills, who they liked etc)? One guy said for the survey “Girls don’t realize how easily they can embarrass us. And when you’re embarrassed, you don’t want to say anything. Honestly, I get mad; I just don’t show it. But as soon as we’re in private, I say, “Why did you do that? Couldn’t you wait until another time?” And it’s worse if it’s in front of her friends because they’ll all talk about it later. It’s terrible. I’m thinking, Do other girls that don’t even know me also think that?”

It covers a lot more things too but you’ll have to read the book to find out =) Anyway, I highly recommend it! All girls should read it. It will change what you think of guys, challenge you, and give you more understanding of how they think.



~Rachel

Health, Gardening, and Pride

I know. I haven't posted in about 2 1/2 weeks. I don't think this blog was a good idea now. I can't think of what to write! Oh well. Life updates are always good, right!? :)

We all did gardening work yesterday, and now the front garden looks lovely. The boys did a good job of putting bricked edges around part of the flower garden, and Dad planted some grasses. It looks way better! The littlies got in the way helped out with picking out stones from the garden, etc. I made this bricked area thingy around the fishpond... it's hard to explain :) I'm so sore today, though! Must be so unfit!

On Saturday I'm volunteer working for a couple that do foster caring on their farm (see www.eleazer.org.nz). What they do is so awesome! I'm looking forward tro seeing how they do it all and hopefully pick up some hints :p (see "about me").

What I've been learning... a lot lately actually. We went to a seminar about nutrition (see www.betterbods.co.nz), and it was quite eye opening and yeah, well, Mum and I have been cleaning out the cupboards of bad food (much to Dad's horror!) Hopefully we'll convert the whole family into eating more healthily sometime... some people may take some convincing though ;p The woman who taught it, Rachel Thompkinson (I know, cool name right! :D) has a young daughter who had severe eczema at just a few months old. Rachel did a lot a research, then put her daughter old a rather extreme (by today’s standards anyway!) diet cutting out all foods with MSG etc in them. Its way more complicated actually, but after a wee while of doing that Rachel's daughter got completely well. Anyway, Rachel is way more convincing and explains everything, so I'll just say it was great :)

For more deep and meaningful things...God has been teaching me a lot about pride lately. Pride is a horrid word and we all hate to hear it associated with ourselves. Unfortunately most of us have some sort of pride. On top of that, it's really complicated and it’s hard to learn how to be humble instead. I watched a talk on it by John Regier and it showed me how prideful I really am. Did you know there are two types of pride? There is obvious pride and hidden pride. I have hidden pride, which is not immediately obvious but it shows in the way I think of myself and others. So I’m asking God to help me change. Mr. Regier gave 5 Biblical ways that we can learn to change, and I can’t remember them all but it was something like: thinking of others as more important than you, never draw attention to your own achievements and abilities and a few other things but you get the basic idea. There also lots of verses in the Bible about pride and how bad it is.



So there’s a little bit about what’s up... I’ve also been reading a really good book, but I might tell you about that next time :)