Week 5: Amor of God

What a day! You girls were full of stories today - loved it!

This week I hope you post your fully prepped paper doll in a good spot when you're getting dressed each morning to remind you to put on the full armor of God.  Our life begins in a relationship with Jesus and learning and trusting each part of the armor is what will equip us for our journey.

Scripture
Ephesians 6: 10 - 18

• Belt of Truth - God, our one true Creator, Counselor, Savior, Friend and Father
• Breastplate of Righteousness - Be mindful of the He is a forgiving God who provides you with a life free of sin through knowing Him, being honest with Him and accepting His awesome gift of forgiveness.
• Sandals/Boots of Peace - Watch your feet as they walk through each day and see how they can be reminders of living out and bringing peace to those around you.
• Shield of Faith - Having faith in the unseen is one of the most difficult to explain. Hold fast to your shield of faith knowing that you can count on God to fulfill every promise He's made to you and to all people. 
• Helmet of Salvation - You are saved by and through Jesus Christ. As you do your hair each morning visually put on your helmet of salvation (wouldn't want a real helmet to give you helmet-hair) as a reminder that He is watching over you from the very top of your being down to your toes. He has risked it all for you promises you strength for today's battle and for all eternity.
• Sword of the Spirit, God's Word - The Bible is the most powerful book you could ever know. Keep His words close to you to calm your doubts/fears and strengthen you in every situation. His Word is true.

Blessings to each of you this week. I look forward to our last week next Sunday where we "serve others unexpectedly" during the 9:15 service time. Come a little early if you can as we'll jump right in and get started as soon as you arrive.

Are you ready for battle? Prepare!

Full Armor Of God

Week 4: Be Smart: You are beautiful.

Smart girls know that there is nothing more beautiful than confidence - confidence that comes from knowing who you are and whose you are.

Thanks for joining in the chat today as we looked into switching from worrying ourselves with self-esteem (when we place our hope inward on ourselves - obsessed, destructive!) to God-esteem (when we place our hope upward in Him).

Seeing yourself the way that God sees you makes a big difference in how other people see you. God tells us in 1 Corinthians 3: 16 - 17 that "...you yourselves are God's temples and the Holy Spirit lives in you... God's temple is sacred..." That means, YOU are sacred! You are so important to God and He loves you so much. God made you unique and beautiful in every way. Every quirky, funny, silly thing about you, every serious, doubtful, curious, loving, helpful, giving thing within you that makes you different was done with, and for a purpose. Isn't He awesome?

Everything from your nose to your toes, your thoughts to your smile is a creative gift God made just for you so you could carry out His work.

Scriptures for this week (along with the above mentioned):

2 Corinthians 4:7 - "We have this treasure from God, but we are like clay jars that hold the treasure. This shows that the great power is from God, not from us." So girls, take care of this precious jar because inside of you is one of the most powerfully, unique gifts - the light and love of Jesus!

Ephesians 2:10 - "God has made us what we are..." And as Abbey would add, "So work it girl!" Make what God has given you work for His glory and honor. It's our God-esteem at its best.

This week is National Eating Disorder Week and I'd like for you to be mindful of how shifting the way you see yourself to the way GOD sees you affects you this week. Many girls struggle with how they look on the outside. Go this week knowing that you are filled internally with God's beauty.

Assignment this week:Post your notes up that we made this week on your mirror in your room, the bathroom or even your mom or sister's mirror to remind you of how special and beautifully made each of us are. Post it in your locker at school or in the front of your planner. Make some new post-its and stick them on a friend's locker or (if it's ok) on the school's bathroom mirror or in the locker room. To see more notes from other girls across the country to go www.operationbeautiful.com.

Stay beautiful and I'll see you next week!

Week 3: Serving Others

Happy Valentine's Day, ladies! I hope you all enjoyed writing a Valentine's card to our very great God today, I know I did. It's fun to take a moment and give him some of that much needed lovin's in this way. Tuck that away for now; get it out and read from time to time to remind yourself of how real and close His love is.

This week we focused on serving others by putting them before ourselves. Show others we have the Holy Spirit within us by what we say and what we do for them. Let them see the light of Jesus shining through. What fun those moments are when people wonder "What makes you so happy all the time?" or "What's gotten into them?" We know the answer, don't we! Jesus!

Our scripture to focus on comes from:
2 Corinthians 8:5
"And they gave in a way we did not expect: They first gave themselves to the Lord and to us. This is what God wants."- The very essence of what it means to be in Third Place! Give of yourself to God, then to others. Give unexpectedly in His name.

2 Corinthians 8:14
"At this time you have plenty. What you have can help others who are in need. Then later, when they have plenty, they can help you when you are in need and all will be equal."  - Give of your time, your heart, your love and joy to others, it never runs out! And when that day comes when you are in a bad mood or feeling down, those around you will return that love and joy.

Remember too to be mindful of how we talk and act towards others.
Ephesians 4: 29 - 32 tells us to not be bitter or angry but to be kind and loving to each other and forgive just as God forgave you in Christ. Look up the full text and read closer when you feel a not-so-nice moment coming on.

Your assignment for the week:
Give or serve unexpectedly. We all wrote down what it was that we wanted to do in service to others this week. Now it's time to jot these happenings down in our journals as the opportunities arise this week. I'll be praying for you!

Week 2: Conversations with God

Thanks for filling your cup with me again this week, girls! It's one of my favorite times of the week. If you missed it or simply want to take another look at what we chatted about this week, here you go.

We tackled some big topics this week in our quest to put God first in our lives. There's no doubt that putting Him first is a big challenge. How do we get there? What do we do? How do we live a Christ-directed life? (See illustration below).

First, we learned that we need to be in a relationship with Him to make that happen. When we think about the people in our lives right now that we have good relationships with, we think of how special they are to us. We talked about how those relationships make us feel good about ourselves; they know how to cheer us up, help us through a tough time, make us laugh, smile and how we trust them with everything going on with our lives. Ultimately, we know that no matter what this person(s) is going to love us - unconditionally. It's that kind of relationship that God wants to have with us too.

What holds us back?

Our sin, our guilt, our doubt. We often then we're not good enough to receive such a cool relationship with God. Thankfully, God loves us too much to let those silly things get in the way of us having a relationship with Him. Instead of leaving us to try to and reach Him on our own, He sent Jesus to pave the way. It was Jesus who paid the ultimate price to take that cloud of sin, guilt and doubt away. Jesus is our link to God - guilt-free, debt-free, yes, absolutely free.

To be in relationship with God means to have conversations with Him. Continual prayer, continual conversation means making nods to God - the acknowledgment that He is present in your day. When we start to do this, we start to put him in the front of our thoughts which is ultimately First Place in our lives.

Verse of the Week:
 1 Peter 3:14 "The Lord sees the good people and listens to their prayers."

This week's assignment:
Take your Third Place notebook and start jotting notes of how God was present (those little conversations with Him) in your life this week. This is just for you, but I'm hoping it will help you be more mindful of how God is working in your daily life. Let's put Christ in the driver's seat - a Christ-directed Life.

Have a great week!