Mom's Wisdom

Mom knows best.

Music Spotlight

I'm starting a new feature called...... drum roll please(drum roll) MUSIC SPOTLIGHT!!!! Tah dah. Yeah, I know, not that exciting. Anyway the first one is a bonus so I'll include three (count 'em three) artists. Our first is Ayiesha Woods with a great song called "Love Like This". Not to be confused with Natasha Bedingfield's "Love Like This". I must confess that I think Ayiesha's name sounds a bit like someone sneezing, but her voice and her music are really good, so I ignore that. The song is on an album that is called (surprise!) "Love Like This" which won't be released until September 8. So watch for that. The second is Group 1 Crew with Keys to The Kingdom. This song is on an album entitled "Ordinary Dreamers" which comes out September 16. Check that out. Then the third is "Give Me Your Eyes" by Brandon Heath. This is from the album "What If We". This one was already released. Finally! One that's already out. It was released August 19. Anyway, these are really good songs that are quickly becoming my favorites. Check them out. And the reason I've heard these unreleased songs already is my favorite radio station gets the songs early and plays them.

Something Beautiful-The Newsboys

Revelation 19:6

Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: "Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns."

Anticonformity-Krystal Meyers

Proverbs 31:30

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

Cinderella- Steven Curtis Chapman

This song is so touching. It perfectly illustrates that special relationship that only a father and daughter have. I'm so fortunate to have that relationship with my own dad. Let's remember our dad's and how special they are today. And let's pray for Steven Curtis Chapman and the death of his daughter. Happy Father's Day!

Ruth 1:16-17

But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me."

ALIVE overature (joyful, joyful, we adore thee)

Revelation 22:21

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen.

Fire Fall Down-Chris Tomlin

Psalm 13:5

But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.

Song of Love-Rebecca St. James

I absolutely love this song. There just isn't really anything I can add to it.

Matthew 19:26

Jesus looked at them and said, "with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

Glory Defined-Building 429

Beloved daughter

We're absolutely pathetic and God is amazingly and indescribably great. Let's get that established first of all. Okay, now that we have that, I have a cool thought for you. We are pathetic and we don't even deserve to be the lowest servant for God. It would be a privilege to scrub the floors in God's house if he lived in an actual house. But, we aren't the lowliest servant, we are His beloved daughter. You are His beloved, His beautiful one, His daughter. That's how great His love is. When you look in the mirror, don't just see those freckles or that stomach that isn't quite flat or that huge zits on your chin (contrary to popular believe it's not the end of the world, I know, I just had one on my chin), see yourself how God sees you. You are His beloved daughter and He thinks that you have beauty beyond compare. Who else's opinion could ever possibly matter? And while we're thinking those good thoughts, listen to the song "Mirror" by BarlowGirl and read "God called a Girl" by Shannon Kubiak. Get to it!! And dab a little concealer on that zit and it will disappear.

He Reigns-The Newsboys

Amazing Grace review

Amazing Grace is the story of William Wilberforce and his struggle to abolish the slave trade in Great Britain in the 17-1800s. Ioan Gruffudd (of Fantastic Four fame) does a superb job as William Wilberforce. The acting is this movie is good and the cinematography is excellent. The dialogue is witty and well written and the costumes are good and (as far as I can tell) very authentic looking. This movie is very interesting and the story captures your attention. The moment when Parliament declares the slave trade to be abolished is one movie moment that will stay with me for a very long time. The movie would have the potential to be boring as there is no action and a lot of it is set in the house of commons (A.K.A the parliament building). It actually turns out to be pretty captivating because of the dialogue and rather dramatic arguments among delegates. The downside to this film is the language. There are many uses of the English meaning of the word bloody and and several uses of the word arse in reference to someones rear end (I didn't find this offensive, but some might). This isn't the most kid friendly movie ever, as it does deal with the issue of slavery. All in all this exceptional movie gets five stars out of five.

Fire-Krystal Meyers

Jeremiah 1:5

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

You Carried Me-Building 429

I love this song. God has carried us through so much. Let's take a moment to thank Him, because in our low points when we may have thought He abandoned us, He didn't; He carried us.

Jeremiah 29:11

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Believe-Britt Nicole

Romans 5:8

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Take Me Away-BarlowGirl spoof

These guys are insane, in a hilarious way.

Isaiah 6:8-9a

Isaiah 6:8-9a Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" 9a He said "Go and tell this people."

Hallelujah-Krystal Meyers

2 Chronicles 7:14

2 Chronicles 7:14 "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble them selves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." Could we all just do this.

In Better Hands Now-Natalie grant

This song is so beautiful. We may miss our loved one's and we may be in pain, but we just have to give them and ourselves to Jesus. His are the best hands we could possibly be in.

If it were illegal...

Think about this for a second. If it were illegal to be a Jesus Freak, would you be convicted? If so, what evidence would the prosecutor have, either for or against your claim? Take a second look at your movie collection or just your mental list of favorite movies. Would they prosecutor use them as evidence of your claim to be a Jesus Freak or would they be used against you? What about those books on the table next to your bed? Would a casual observer just think that you were just a normal teenage girl reading trashy romance novels or would they see something different? And what about the music you listen to? Is that totally pure and God honoring? The Bible says in Philippians 4:8 "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things." My point in asking these questions is simply this. If the world looked at you and your life, would they see something different? Would they see Jesus? Or would they just see the average?

Cry Holy-Sonic Flood

This video is great. The song is Praise and Worship and it's a good song. But what makes the video is the footage from all over the world. Very interesting.

An Ode to Oreos

Oh Oreos. How beautiful and tasty you are. Your luscious cream centers and your crunchy chocolate exteriors. How wonderful and tasty you are. I love you with your double-stuff centers. Oh, when I pick apart your layers and lick off the frosting I am transported to world's unknown. Oh Oreo, when shall I have the pleasure of eating you next? I am so lonely in the absence of you. Come back to me dear Oreo. Oreo there you are. I can eat you again and all is bliss.

I Love My Lips-VeggieTales

I love VeggieTales. And apparently Larry loves his lips.

The Earth

Scientists have known for about ten years that the earth hums. I mean literally makes a humming noise. Now they've found out that the earth has pitches and definite notes. In other words the Earth sings. Isn't that amazing? Our God is so great that even the earth itself must sing in praise to Him. That is how great and how mighty our God is. And yet he cares about us so much that he knows everything we do. Like he knew millions of years ago what you're thinking right now. He knew trillions and trillions and trillions of years ago that I would be writing this post and that you would be reading it. That's pretty cool.

Fearless-Building429

Awesome. We have to be fearless in telling others about God. We can't be weak and wishy-washy. We must be bold and courageous in Christ's power.

Noise

It's all around us. Everywhere we go. Telling us to think this and not that. Telling us that if we just buy or do this we'll finally be happy. I'm talking about noise. We have all this noise around us and yet we wonder why we can't hear God as loud as we used to. To relax and escape from the noise, most of us sit or lay somewhere and turn on the music. Think how irrational that is. To escape the noise, we turn on our own noise. Sometime we should sit for a while in silence and just listen. You may think that you have no time when you can just shut out everything and sit in silence, but I'll bet if you really look you'd find some time. And if you still can't ask God to help give you time. It will help you relax, sure, but most importantly, you'll probably find that your relationship with God improves if you do.

Listen-Trin-I-Tee 5:7

This song is so right. We need to just listen to God and not bother with what other people think

Here am I, send me

Isaiah 6:8 says "Whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then I said, here am I, send me."

Here am I, send me. Just five words, but they hold so much power and significance. Just five words, but how many of us are truly willing to say them and mean it? Saying them means surrendering your life to God. Telling Him that no matter where or when He says you are willing and ready to go and do. Totally and completely surrendering is not easy to d0, but look back over history and see what God can do with just ONE life totally and completely surrendered to Him.

Saying here am I, send me doesn't always mean going to deepest darkest Africa or to the Amazon jungles, though. Sometimes it just means telling that one girl in your third period class. Sometimes it means telling that one geeky kid who always sits by himself in the lunchroom tomorrow.

Will you say here am I, send me? Will you go for Him?

We Live-Superchick

I love this song because it reminds us to live life to it's fullest and love with all that we are, because we don't know what tomorrow will bring. Superchick is awesome too.

Bad news

I have some extremely bad news. Due to circumstances which are varied and uncontrollable this blog will be shutting down. There will be no more posts, ever. Thanks to all of you who have been my faithful readers. April fools. Gotcha.

Jesus Freak

We have all heard the term Jesus Freak. We hear the term all the time. Sometimes it's used as an insult, usually it gets weird looks from adults if you call yourself one. We hear it all the time, but do we ever stop to consider what it really means?

In the 1960s-'70s era it meant that you were a member of one of several fundamentalist groups of chiefly young people that emphasized intense personal devotion to Jesus Christ and the study of his teachings. At least that's what dictionary.com said. Anyway, today it means much the same thing. It means living a life totally and utterly devoted to Jesus. It means being sold out for Him and only Him. It means that you passionately love and serve Jesus with all that you are and have.

We can call ourselves Jesus Freaks, but next time you do, remember these definitions. We can call ourselves Jesus Freaks, but are we really?

She Walked Away-BarlowGirl

A post

You know how your always hearing that God knows everything? Including everything about you. My youth pastor said something really cool tonight. God isn't just some freaky mind reader or something. He knows everything about you because He cares about you so much that he wants to know everything about you and every detail of your life. If that's not cool, I don't know what is. The Creator of the Universe cares about you so much that He wants to know every detail of your life. Think about it.

Lifehouse Everything drama

This is amazing. The video's a little blurry, but the drama is still so awesome. This video gives me chills everytime I watch it. Enjoy.

The poll results

The poll is closed and the poll results are in. We're going to have movie and music reviews. It was a unanimous yes. Thanks for voting everybody. Comment if there's any certain movie you'd like me to review.

Sunrise-Nichole Nordeman

I love this song. No matter how dark the night and how deep the shadow we might be in, Jesus is our sunrise. The height of the mountain depends on the depth of the valley. I serve a God that can turn the darkest and most joyless of nights into the brightest and most glorious of mornings. How great is our God!

The poll

In case you hadn't noticed there's a poll to the right of this post. It asks (in case you somehow can't read) whether you would like to have an occasional movie or music review in place of regular posts. On my other blog, I did the same poll and the answer was yes. Please vote on the poll and tell me what you think. If you do say yes, I, of course, won't review any bad (here having the meaning of inappropriate) movies or anything. Especially since I'm not even allowed to see a lot of PG-13 movies. So where am I gonna get access to bad movies? Anyway, please vote. See you at the poll.

Consume Me-dctalk

There's not really anything I can add to the message of this song. I wish dctalk would come back.

Anti-conformity

Anti-conformity. The definition is lack of conformity; failure or refusal to conform. The Bible says, in Romans 12:2, (to paraphrase for a moment) that we shouldn't conform to the pattern of this world anymore, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. According to that we need to be non-conformists. That means that we need to not do and think everything the world tells us too. Does that mean that everything "worldly" is bad? Of course not. It just means that we need to conform to God and his standards for our life, in everything, instead of the standards of everybody else.

Arise my Love-NewSong

I absolutely love this song. I tear up everytime I hear it. I love it because it's a song of victory over death and victory over satan. We have new life, a new song, and new love because, praise God, Jesus rose again! And I serve a living and all powerful King.

Worship

Worship is a loving response to a loving God. That is a definition for worship that my youth pastor told me. Worship is an amazing thing. It is a privilege that we get to have. We get to come before GOD (the creator of the universe) and tell Him how amazing He is. There are many different ways to worship you can sing, you can clap, you can raise your hands, you can dance, you can give of your time or money, and you can just bask. You can do just about anything.

And along with love (according to the dctalk song) worship is a verb. It's not a ritual. it's not standing in a building and singing a few songs for exactly thirty minutes a few times a week. It's a lifestyle. It's a Holy Spirit-filled thing and it's us basking in God's presence and telling him how amazing He is. It's constantly thinking and talking and telling God how great and good he is.

This week why don't we ask God to give us a reverence and an awe for Him, and ask Him to give us a lifestyle of worship.

Grey-BarlowGirl

I really like this song because we can't be just grey and complacent. God wants us to be hot and on fire for Him. If we're not, what's the point of us even being alive. Sorry, the lip-sync is a little off on the video.

Guess what?

Guess what? God loves you. Everything you see around you is a love song from Him to you. The blue sky, the fact that you can breath, move, speak, do anything. The gentle breeze that blows across your face, the birds flying in the air above you, the stars and moon in the night sky. All of it is God's way of saying You are my beloved daughter and I loved you enough to die for you. To Him you are perfect the way you are and you are beauty beyond compare. So next time you look in the mirror and all you can see is those ears that stick out to much, that zit on your nose, that stomach that isn't perfectly flat, or those braces, remember, you are the beloved and the daughter of the King.

Wait For Me-Rebecca St. James

the poll results

If you've read my blog at all for the last couple weeks, you've probably noticed the poll I had. It asked what you wanted to see on this blog and gave the options of: all written posts, all music videos, and a good mix of both. The poll is now closed and the conclusion is (drum roll please) a good mix of both. Thanks to everyone who voted and I'm sorry if that's not what you voted for. See you here the day after tomorrow for a new day and a new post.

Does Anybody Hear Her-Casting Crowns

Children's thoughts on love and marriage

Held-Natalie Grant

O Praise Him-David Crowder band

Jesus Freak-dctalk

I can only Imagine-MercyMe

Jesus Take the Wheel-Carrie Underwood

Irene-Tobymac

Cletus take the Reel-Tim Hawkins

This is a parody of Jesus Take the Wheel by Carrie Underwood. It's hilarious.

Hero-Superchick

I don't get the princessess. Sorry about those, but the rest of the video is good and this song is amazing.

Never Alone-BarlowGirl

New blog

I have started a new blog. It's call The favorites of a Christian music fan. It feautures Christian music videos, my thoughts on songs, my thoughts on Christian music, and my thoughts on pretty much everything else. Please check it out. The link is www.christianmusicfanfavorites.blogspot.com

Amazing Grace-Chris Tomlin

Dreaming big.

We all have dreams. I'm not talking about the weird, mind-sorting-out-your-day type dreams. I'm talking about what you dream to do with your life. Most people's ambition in life is to go through school, go to college, get a good, well paying job, work at it until you're sixty-five (in there somewhere) when you begin collecting social security, then retire. There's really nothing wrong with that. But how many of us at six dreamed of that? Not many, I'm guessing. Your dreams were probably wild and ,it seems now, unreachable. But there are those of us who think outside the box. The scenario described above is what society tells us to do. I have a new philosophy, follow your dreams, and if you have the right education and you set your mind to it, you can do anything. That's right, I said ANYTHING, and I meant it. It's never too late, or too early, to start following your childhood dreams. I mean obviously, if you dreamed of being a surgeon and you can't stand the sight of blood, chances are you probably shouldn't be a surgeon. But I encourage you, don't wait until you finish school or this thing or that. If you have a dream, do it NOW.

Prayer request

My dad is having eye surgery tomorrow. Please pray that all goes well. Thank you. Watch for tomorrow's post.

Bye Eloise-last in series

Fourth Eloise-only one more

Third in Eloise series

Second in Eloise series

Eloise

His Love

I know of some one who will always love you, more than anyone else ever could. He'll never stop loving you, no matter what you do, and He'll never leave you. In fact He loved you so much that He died on an old wooden cross for you. You might have figured out who I'm talking about by now. If you said Jesus, you'd be right. You see because of that little white lie you told last week, because you didn't clean your room when your parents told you too, you have to die. That may seem like a pretty harsh punishment for something so small, but God said that sin is sin, no matter whether you told a "little" white lie or killed someone. God doesn't want you to die, though, because He loves you. So He came up with a solution. He sent His only kid to die a horrible death on a cross in your place. So you get to spend forever with Him in Heaven once you die. There is a catch, though. You have to love Him back. You have to realize that telling that lie was a sin, and you have to ask Him to forgive you. Pretty good, all things considered. Think about it.

Indescribable

Being Yourself

Don't we all have many facets of our self? You know, you when you're with your family, you when you're with your friends, you when you're with that certain group of people, you at this event or that. I do that too. Why can't we all just be ourselves? Why do we have to put on all these different masks? I am reminded of a poem I read by Bettie B. Youngs in one of the "Chicken Soup for the soul" books. It talked about a girl who constantly carried around a paintbrush so that she could cover up and keep people from seeing the real her. She said that she was afraid of stripping off her layers because she didn't want people to reject her. She finally did strip off her layers and let people see the real her, but she kept her paintbrush until she could learn to love herself. So I challenge you, strip off your layers, throw away your paintbrush and just be you. Learn to love yourself and who you really are. Grow new wings of self-esteem, self-love, and confidence. Fly away on your wings and be beautiful.

Identity

Identity. Your identity can be found in many places. Your friends, your family, your boyfriend, the group you hang out at school with. In today's world you can change your identity at the blink of an eye. One minute you can be the sweet, dorky, brainiac (not the superman character) and by changing you hair, clothes, and makeup, you can instantly become the hardcore skater chick. Even here on blogger, if you want to post a comment they ask what identity you want use. It's gotten to the point that many people don't even know who they are anymore. So where should your identity be found? Mine is found in Christ. So spend some today thinking about your identity. Who are you? It's worth figuring it out for yourself.

Pain

Pain. What a small word, yet it holds so much feeling and emotion. There are many different kinds of pain too. Physical, emotional, even spiritual. So what do we do when we experience that overwhelming emotional pain that nothing seems to help? You know, when a family member or close friend dies, when someone you love or even you gets a horrible disease like cancer, when a parent walks out of your life or says they don't love you anymore. It's easy to feel overwhelmed by this pain. It can turn our world upside down and we may feel like there's no way out. Some people turn to drugs or alcohol. Some become cutters. And still others feel that there is absolutely no way out of this pit they've fallen in and try to take their own life. I offer a different alternative. When you encounter that shattering pain, and some people never will, turn to God. Give Him your pain and let Him bear it. He's the only one who really can. He'll always take it and He'll never let you down. I pray you never encounter this kind of pain, but if you do, turn to Him. He's always right there.

This blog

This blog was designed by a teenage girl for teenage girls. The simple purpose of this blog is to be a voice for truth among all the other voices that lie. No matter what messages you get from the things around you, e.g. you're fat, you're ugly, your body isn't right, you have no value, I'm here to let you know that they are not true. No matter what you look like, you were created by God, so Honey, you're beautiful. When I was little I used to dream that I was a beautiful princess who had a Prince Charming that would sweep me off my feet and marry me. I don't know about the Prince Charming, but I found out that I am a Princess because I am a child of the King of Kings, God. I digress, though. Looks and having the body of Hollywood stars(they starve themselves ya know) aren't everything, believe me, I know. I'm on the stocky side of things myself. Don't criticize yourself. I'm guessing you have plenty of people who are more than willing to do it for you. I have to go now. Make this your mantra, I love myself and I am beautiful. Peace out.