Do Hard Things-My Thoughts So Far

I don't know how many of you have heard of Alex and Brett Harris.  Ever heard of www.therebelution.com?  Well, if you haven't, you should check them out.  Alex and Brett are the younger twin brothers of "I Kissed Dating Goodbye" author Josh Harris.  Their book, "Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations" has been out for a while, but I received it when I graduated from HS in 2009.  I started to read it, but quickly lost interest in it and never picked it back up until recently.

I don't know why I picked it back up; something inside me just really wanted to read it, to see what it had to say to me.  I can say that I'm very glad I listened to that little voice because it's been a rewarding read.  I haven't yet finished it (I'm to part 3), but it's said some things to me that I've taken to heart.  I was reading it when I volunteered at one of the vet clinics in town in 2009, and the technician asked me what I was reading.  I showed her the book and her response was, "Hard Things?  I don't want to do hard things!"  If she only knew.

Doing hard things can be small things.  One example I love that they gave in the book was "drudging along through chemistry".  Boy, I can certainly relate to that!  I didn't think I would make it through my first semester of chemistry, but I did.  And with a B.  *Yeah I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw that on my transcript*.  Chemistry was certainly a hard thing for me to do, and in the big scope of things, it wasn't all that important!  I mean, it must not seem important to most people.  It was to me.  I had an inner drive to do my best at that course because I didn't want to fail.  I stumbled and fell a couple of times, but I didn't fail.  Even with the death of my Papaw, and even before then, with his failing health, I was able to focus on my ultimate goal: making the best grade I could on the final that would raise my grade to a B.  I don't even know how I stayed focused during finals.  Inside I was an emotional wreck; I had a friendship coming to a screeching end, one of the men I loved the most was dying, and I wasn't sure if I was going to pull through the semester with a C or not.  The hard things that I find hardest are pretty small.  College is a "hard thing" that I have to adapt to; I have to learn to adjust how I study, how I work, and that doesn't stop with the first semester.  Every week I have to re-adjust a schedule, or how I do things....and sometimes it's infuriating.

"The problem is that when you stay inside your comfort zone, you're essentially refusing to surrender your life fully to God; you're avoiding the hard things He is calling you to do."-Paraphrased from the book.

I think that really sums up this post.  My hardest thing in life is getting out of my own comfort zone, something I have to do often.  In fact, this fall, I'll be forced to get out of my comfort zone as I move to Mississippi (11 hours away from home), and start on my own.  Do you know how scary the very thought of that is?  Yet I know that God has something awesome in store for me if I'll just trust Him and follow where He leads.  If you don't take a step out of your comfort zone and be willing to follow Him, why call yourself a Christian?  Why claim to want to serve Him?  

 Get out and do hard things! And pick up this book before you do. You won't regret reading it. 

Returned

Well, I haven't blogged in several months...for good reason, but now I'll try to blog every now and then. Here's a quick update of everything that's gone in in the past few months:

One, I'm finishing up my second (and final) year at community college.  Where am I headed to after that, this fall?  Mississippi State! Yup, I'm moving 12 hours away to a school I've never seen, much less attended.  My sister and bro-in-law will be there though, along with my niece (due in February), so I'll be in good hands should I need somebody.  I'm very excited, but also very scared at this new opportunity that God's given me.  We haven't yet figured out how we'll pay for the tuition, but if He wants me there, He'll work it all out the way He needs to!

Actually there isn't much that's happened since I last blogged; I did finish Lady in Waiting, and of course I've read a lot of books since then!  One book that I'm currently reading is called, "Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion against Low Expectations" by Alex and Brett Harris.  It's really said some things to me that I can't argue with, but I'll post my thoughts on it later!

For Now...

Well I know I haven't posted about chapter 10, but I've decided not to blog very often/at all.  I don't feel like it does much good, and nobody reads my blogs, so there's no point in it really. 

As they say in middle-Earth, Namarie...or Farewell.

Lady of Conviction

Here is Chapter 9: Lady of Conviction.  This chapter was a good one, as it hammered on not lowering your standards to get married or even to date. I want to start this off with this funny quote: "Ruth's choice to wait for God's best resulted in her union with a Boaz rather than a Bozo."  I don't know why I find that funny, but think about it: what happens when you run ahead of God's timing/plans?  You usually end up either hurting yourself and/or hurting another person.  If you run ahead to get a Bozo when you could've gotten a Boaz by waiting, think about all the regret you'll have. "Ruth's wise choices resulted in her experiencing God's overwhelming goodness."   One thing I really liked about this chapter is how it emphasized NOT lowering your standards for any man.  I often think my ideals and standards are too high for anybody to reach.  Yet, as Josh Harris said in "I Kissed Dating Goodbye", you should set your standards so high that not even you can reach them.  Harris was referring to a standard of purity, but I think that setting your standards so high that nobody can reach them, then you might be less willing to compromise on your beliefs or standards.

For instance, I have a set of standards that I desire in a boyfriend/future husband. He cannot drink. Whatsoever. I just will not tolerate it in a boyfriend. That is a standard that I'm not willing to compromise on because I don't drink and I don't want to be with a boyfriend who does.  I don't care if he tells me "I'll quit drinking for you" because generally they never follow through with it.  "You cannot make good choices without proper, biblical convictions. Don't carelessly leave your dating/relating standards to chance."  And yes, I know that people in the Bible drank wine, but in reality, the wine of the time was little more than strong grape juice with little-no fermentation. You'd have to drink a ton of it to get drunk.  We're told that our bodies are a temple for/of the Holy Spirit, and we should treat our bodies accordingly. Drinking, smoking, drugs and promiscuous/pre-marital sex is abusing the temple of the Holy Spirit, so I don't stand for any of that in a future dating relationship.
They gave a list of example standards that would be good for anybody to model.
Qualities of Mr. Right:
1. Spirit-controlled Christian
2. Jesus is #1
3. Broken and fully dependent on Jesus
4. Ministry-minded
5. Motivator; man of vision
6. Sensitive spirit for others
7. Understands the responsibility of a husband to his wife
8. Humble enough to be teachable and teach others
9. Man of prayer
10. Family man
Most of my guidelines for Mr. Right are not far from this list, but I think that I'm going to adopt this list as my own.  Sound too good to be true?  You know, if God can number the hairs on your head, and watch the sparrows, don't you think He'll bring you His best if you're meant to get married?  Of course He will, if it's in His ultimate plan. So, before you go out on another date, or you're asked to date somebody, consider your standards. Will that person make you compromise, or will you stand firm on your beliefs and not budge an inch?

Chapter 10 is tomorrow, and though I've already read it, I've got a lot of thoughts on it!

Lady of Contentment

After reading this chapter, I'm beginning to wonder if it really belonged in the front of the book!  This chapter focused on being content while you're single.  Do you know how hard it is to be content while single?  Now, I would say that I've been pretty content since I was 13.  I suppose it comes from not being in public school and not feeling a lot of pressure to date, though I do get funny looks from people when I tell them I've never dated and I'm 18!  But discontentment isn't just for single women; did you know it is a situation for everyone?  Who knew?!  But in regards to singleness, if you don't start becoming content with your singleness, it'll seep into your marriage as well: "If you are presently discontent as a single woman, you can count on being dissatisfied as a married woman in the future."  Okay, so that does sometimes apply to me...but for the most part, I'm content to be single. Being able to wait has to do with not only your character, but the character of those around you. All of my friends encourage me to keep up my standards and to keep doing what I'm doing; i.e. put my future in God's hands because they're on the same road I am. 

I don't think this chapter would have been complete, or perhaps this book, without mentioning the ways that guys unintentionally lead girls astray.  What I'm about to say is not intended to offend, but come on, most guys are pretty clueless when it comes to us. *Can I hear an amen from the girls? :) *  Sometimes, you don't realize how what you do affects us...but girls, let's be honest, sometimes we get carried away.  I love the example they gave here: a guy wrote a letter to his friend (who was a girl), beginning it "Dear Sunshine."  Think they were dating? Think again! They were only friends. Now first of all, the guy was not smart to call her Sunshine. Now if it were in jest (like REmember the TItan's 'Sunshine') then maybe it'd be okay. But no!  Unfortunately, they didn't tell how the girl felt about this...but I can imagine what she did feel. And for us girls, we all know what that was, right?

And sometimes, we girls can lead ourselves astray. Ever found yourself having "visions" of a future together with a certain someone?  I know I have. Never was I told that it's wrong! Ouch. This part really hurt my toes because it pointed a finger directly at me. If you fantasize yourself with someone while you're single, you'll do the same thing after you're married. So what's the solution? Every time you start thinking about those things, immediately hand them over to Jesus.  That's what I'm going to try to do anytime I'm tempted to daydream.
Last, we need spiritual monitors; a person or persons to tell us not to let our expectations of guys get ahead of God's plan. They need to tell us, "I'm glad for you, but don't let your heart get carried away. Remember it's in God's hands, not yours."  Truthfully, it may hurt sometimes because you don't want anybody bursting your bubble, but in the long run, wouldn't it be for the best?
I'm going to close with a couple of quotes: "Singleness does not produce lack of contentment any more than marriage provides contentment. Lack of contentment is the result of the terrible burden of wanting life on your own terms."
"Dating is not a reward or a prize for living for Jesus. A Friday night without a date is often a night of 'being spared' by an all-wise Umpire (God)."

Lady of Security

It's been a while since I blogged. This is fairly short, mainly because it's been a while since I blogged on it.

First off, about the Lady of Security. This chapter basically dealt with being secure in the Lord regardless of how many dateless nights you have. It also discussed how to be so secure that you don't go out of your way to manipulate the opposite sex...either through friendship or through another avenue.  There's nothing wrong with being friends with guys, or even in calling them or hanging out, but the motives behind the actions is often what gets us girls into a lot of trouble.  And I can honestly say that in the past, my motives with guys (if I liked them, that is) weren't always innocent...I think every girl is guilty of it or will be guilty of it because hey, when you're a teenager, you don't know what you're doing most of the time. (Note: that is NOT an excuse)  Another thing this chapter touched on was not going after guys. How many girls do you know (and possibly you have done it too) who have a reputation of being boy-chasers? It seems that boy chasing gets started at a younger age these days...I mean, 2nd graders talking about their boyfriends?! Seriously?!!!  So, if you are one of these boy chasers, how do you remedy that?  Well, first of all, quit going after them! When you're friends with them, what are your motives? Are you being friendly in the hopes that he'll come to like you, or are you friends with him purely out of a desire to be friends? Instead of chasing after a boy, strive to become a woman of excellence, and develop security in the Lord. He'll take care of you regardless of your situation and circumstances, and this goes for guys too.  Guys and girls should focus on being the men and women God wants them to be, not on if they can get a date for Friday night. Rest in Him and be secure in Him!

I accidentally skippd a chapter (without realizing it), so tomorrow I will post about 2 chapters.

"We Invite You all to come to TEXAS!"

Okay, so this past week has been really busy for us.  I hadn't seen any of my grandparents for at least a year, maybe year and a half.  But Wednesday was the day I was really looking forward to: we got to see the play TEXAS! in Palo Duro Canyon!  It was our 7th or 8th time to see it, but the last time we saw it was approximately 12 years ago when I was about 6. I only remembered bits and pieces of it, so I really expected to be able to remember everything I saw, haha. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  We started our "Texas" day by going to West Texas A&M University to the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum, a museum which *obviously* focuses on the history of the Panhandle Plains.  For $10, the museum was worth it!  I thought, "oh, it's only this first floor and there's nothing else to it" and I thought we'd be done with it in 30 minutes.  I was wrong. I didn't realize how big it was/is!  My favorite part of the museum was, of course, the part focusing on Native Americans and cowboys.  My dad and I watched a video about how INdians slaughtered and butchered buffalo, and just to be perfectly honest, it's absolutely disgusting, but absolutely fascinating.  They don't let any of the buffalo (except maybe the skull) go to waste. They used every piece of the buffalo for survival. It drove home what killing the buffalo really meant: the Indians harvested their food, clothes, weapons, and shelter from the buffalo herds.  The survival of the buffalo meant the survival of the Indians.  It was utterly depressing to think how we whites were so blinded by greed and misunderstanding that we drove to extinction an animal that an entire culture depended on. 

But anywho, the museum was really awesome and we got to see another video about the Battle of Adobe Walls, something Quanah Parker (the son of Peta Nacona) was connected to.  You may wonder why I find anything about Quanah and Nacona fascinating, but that's because the town I live in was named after Peta Nacona, a Comanche chief.  The absolute best part of the day though, was getting to go back to Palo Duro Canyon.  I hadn't been there in about 12 years and I forgot just how beautiful it is.  Our dinner wasn't served until 6, so we drove around for a good hour just sightseeing.  AFter we ate a dinner served by the Big Texan (a restaurant in Amarillo famous for their *free* 72 oz. steak), we had to wait around for about an hour and a half to 2 hours. We went to the gift shop (where I got a really awesome TEXAS shirt), and signed the guest book, followed by pinning a pin to Nocona on the map of Texas.  They had 3 maps there, one of the world, one of the U.S. and one of Texas; everyone who signed the book placed a pin on their hometown or where they came from.  We were the only ones that night that I know of that pinned Nocona.

TEXAS, a musical drama set in the Pioneer Ampitheater (in the heart of PDC), has been running for 45 years straight!  THey have a tradition every performance night (from June-August, 5-6 nights a week): they give away a miniature dinner triangle to whoever traveled the farthest. In all of the 45 years the show has been running, they have NEVER given a triangle away to someone from the continental U.S.  THe night we went, a man from SAudi Arabia won the triangle (he had traveled over 8,000 miles).  The play itself was absolutely amazing.  The music is as fun as I remember, the dancing as mind-boggling as ever.  For anybody who has seen it, even once, you know what I'm talking about! The only thing I disliked about this musical was the sexual innuendos.  I don't recall those being in the original play(s), and my parents said that those things had been added in.  In that sense, it lost some of its family friendliness. The show started at 8:30 (probably 8:40 after they got past the opening announcements), and of course, The Rider on the Rim started it all off.  Poor guy was fighting the wind, the Texas flag, AND his horse, but he managed to pull it off.  The show ended at around 11:15, with a grand finale of fireworks and all 6 flags of Texas running past on horseback (France, Spain, Mexico, the Confederacy, Texas, and United States). Oh, I meant to mention Quanah Parker's appearance!  I really wasn't expecting him to show up, but his 2 scenes were really well done, even though the actor playing him wasn't an Indian.  After we left the show, we filed past all the dancers, chorus singers, and actors who had done the show, and I got all the autographs of the principal actors (Tucker Yelldell, Kate Lucas, Uncle Henry, Aunt Anna, Elsie McLean, and Calvin Armstrong). 

Yesterday we (with my dad's parents) went to Lubbock.  Lubbock is where I was born and is the home of the Texas Tech Red RAiders (Get your GUns Up!).  We went to the Science Spectrum, a place I haven't been to in YEARS.  We had to wait for the OMNI movie, so we went through the Science Museum. It hasn't changed hardly at all!  I remembered most of everything very well from when I was a little kid, but I have to say, I didn't find it as fun as I once did, maybe because I know too much about science now?  NOthing really spectacular happened in the Science part, so I'll move on to the OMNI movie.  We ended up seeing "Wolves", a documentary about wolves in Yellowstone and Canada and how wolves are being introduced back into the wilderness by people like those of the Nez Perce Indian tribe(s).  My favorite part of the movie was the music.  It was all Native American tribal music, and man was it beautiful!  Now I don't buy into all the things they do...I mean, "brother and sister Wolf?"  but I do find the culture of Native Americans very interesting...maybe because they've been miscontrued for so many years. 

All in all, this week has been great, but I'm ready for some sleep in my own bed!