7 Practical Ways to Love Jesus Through the School Year

September comes with a little bit of coolness to remind us the summer months are over and a realization that this school business is serious. For some of us, the cool weather can cause coldness in our relationship with the LORD. The busyness that comes with getting in a routine for school and other extra-curricular activities can seem to cloud our love for our King. In my relationship with the LORD, I have found it is so important to fight for time with Him and intentionally find ways to keep my fire burning.

I hope some of these practical tips can help others keep the LORD as their first love:

1. Wake up a little earlier in the morning to spend time with Him: This has been the most important thing I have done in my relationship with the LORD. Spending time with Him in the morning is a declaration that He is LORD over your day, and you choose to put Him first above all. When you are entering a stressful season in your life, it’s important to spend even more time with God to receive clarity on how handle different situations.

2. Unplug a little bit more: We are constantly surrounded by all kinds of technology and sometimes it’s so hard to get away from it and just sit quietly before Him. Learning to “unplug” from technology on a regular basis creates a deeper intimacy with the LORD.

3. Engage in Worship Times: Worshipping is a huge way to set your heart on the LORD and make Him bigger, while making yourself and your issues smaller. Whether it’s a quick jam session to worship music in your car, or singing loud to God in the bathroom. Find your special way to refocus on the One who truly matters.

4. Have mini-prayer times in between classes: While walking across the school to your next class, sneak in a little conversation time with the King.

5. Set a marker on campus/have a prayer corner: At my undergrad college I had a spot on the swing that reminded me to pray on campus. Every time I passed by it, I would be reminded to pray and after a while it became automatic. God thoughts started popping up before I got to the swing. This is one of the most intentional ways I found to keep my mind set on the LORD while in college.

6. Serve others: We are never closer to the heart of God than we are when we get out of ourselves, leave behind our agendas and pour into other people. Find opportunities in your school and community to connect with God in this way.

7. Find an encouraging group of Christians to meet with and talk about the LORD: While we are called to be the light in the midst of the darkness, it is important to have a group of people who you can comfortably talk about what the LORD is teaching you and know they understand. It is so important to be filled up and held accountable while we try to shine light into the dark places.
   
   
   
   
   
   

Salem Afangideh is a second year law student that moved from Nigeria, Africa to Alabama. Her passions include pursuing and being pursued by Jesus, fighting against human trafficking, bringing justice and compassion to wherever God leads her, speaking and writing to encourage others in their relationships with the LORD. When she is not too busy studying you can find her blogging at setapartwarriorprincess.blogspot.com or on instagram @afro_princess.


[photo: Angelo Gonzalez, Creative Commons]

Serving My King

The Day I Say "I Do"

I have an entire board on Pinterest called “future and beyond” dedicated to this day, and if you have caught the Pinterest bug and are not yet married, chances are you probably have a similar Pinterest board. However, even before Pinterest fueled our thoughts of our future wedding day, most of us girls have spent a good bit of time thinking about the day – it’s almost apart of being a girl.

I hope I will marry a man who is not only gorgeous on the outside, but has a heart that pursues Christ. I pray that he is a man who is strong and secure enough in His relationship with His King, to lead me. My prayer is that he will be the person I can serve the LORD the most with, and God's vision for His life will be suitable with the path God has called me to walk on. I pray this man will not be perfect, but will set His eyes and heart on the One who is perfect and will live His life modeled after the perfect lover – Jesus Christ.

My dream for my wedding day is to create a day solely dedicated to making God’s name famous (like any other day should be). So rather than fix my heart on what kinds of flowers I will have, or how to make sure my day is picture perfect, I hope my heart will be fixed on the beauty of Jesus and the wonderful gift He has entrusted to me on that day – the heart of His son, my future husband. I hope it will be a day when I can show honor to my parents for training me to love Jesus, for putting up with me, and loving me unconditionally. I hope I would be true to my vow to save my first kiss till the altar so I can be an example of purity to the younger generation of girls whose hearts I have been entrusted with. I hope my groom will see in me a radiance that will not come from my makeup or the white dress, but radiance found in a woman who is in relentless pursuit of her Savior.

If the LORD blesses me with the privilege of being married, I dream of having a Christ-centered wedding day, and that dream helps me not obsess over wedding boards on Pinterest, or make a wedding day my ultimate goal. Instead, I choose to intentionally focus on serving my King through the ordinariness of my everyday life. Although my wedding day will be a special day, it is just like any other day – an opportunity to serve and bring glory to my King.

[photo credit: Shannon Lee Miller]

Salem Afangideh is a second year law student that moved from Nigeria, Africa to Alabama. Her passions include pursuing and being pursued by Jesus, fighting against human trafficking, bringing justice and compassion to wherever God leads her, speaking and writing to encourage others in their relationships with the LORD. When she is not too busy studying you can find her blogging at setapartwarriorprincess.blogspot.com or on instagram @afro_princess.

Sex Through the Eyes of a Virgin Christian Girl

SEX. one of the most talked about topics in our culture, yet the most perverted from the way God originally intended it to be. I feel very unqualified to talk about sex because as you have probably figured out from the title of this article, I have no experience in this area. However, God and I have had a few conversations about it. Since He made sex, who better to talk about it with? These are a few perspective changers on sex:

1. God made sex: Think about that the next time you are in doubt of how creative, funny, and intricate God is.
   
   
2. Sex is fun: In the Christian world, when I was growing up, the older generations’ strategy for trying to keep the teenagers abstinent was to make sex seem dirty and bad. This strategy backfired a lot when teenagers started having sex and discovered how fun it was; it was much harder to keep them away from doing it. While I would not know about how fun sex is, I have been blessed with Godly couples who have told me it is so worth the wait. Instead of viewing sex as this bad and dirty thing to avoid, I see it as a wonderful and fun gift God has created for me to enjoy in the season of marriage.
   
   
3. Sex was made to be within the context of Marriage: Eccl. 3: 11 Says “He [God] has made everything beautiful in its time” Premarital sex will never be as fulfilling as sex within a marriage. 
   Sex within a marriage makes you feel safe because your spouse has chosen you over every other person in the world. No matter how much a guy tells you he loves you while dating/courting, if he has not paid the price called marriage, he does not deserve to know what your body looks like. Sex was made to be the final glue that bonds two people together, it was created to be a seal for people who have bonded spiritually, emotionally, and intellectually in marriage. It gets messy when you bond sexually with someone first and then try to figure out the spiritual, emotional, and intellectual connection.
   
   
   For my sisters who have already chosen to be sexually active, I do not want to bring condemnation, rather a challenge to choose purity. We worship a God who delights in restoring and if you decide to live a life of purity, He will empower and strengthen you to do it. You will be in a much better position to be an advocate of purity because you have been down both roads.
   
   
4. Sex is all about serving: This would have to be the biggest shift from how our culture looks at sex to the way God sees sex. The act of having sex (or not having sex before marriage) is all about serving another person. For the unmarried Christian girl that is striving to save sex for her future husband, you are serving him in a beautiful way and showing him he can trust you after you are married. The fact that you waited for him means more than you will ever know. You are also serving our Lord Jesus Christ by honoring Him with your body. For the married Christian woman who chooses to have sex with her husband after a crazy busy day, you are serving him with your body in the most beautiful way. And as you serve him, you are also serving our Lord Jesus Christ.

How do you see sex through your eyes?

Salem Afangideh is a second year law student that moved from Nigeria, Africa to Alabama. Her passions include pursuing and being pursued by Jesus, fighting against human trafficking, bringing justice and compassion to wherever God leads her, speaking and writing to encourage others in their relationships with the LORD. When she is not too busy studying you can find her blogging at setapartwarriorprincess.blogspot.com or on instagram @afro_princess.

[photo: JohnHope14, Creative Commons]

Confessions of a Boy-Crazy, Jesus-Loving Girl

The LORD and I had a conversation recently and during the course of that conversation He told me I was boy crazy. My response:

“Excuse me LORD, but I am not boy crazy...I am not (and have never been) one of those girls that doodle hearts on the pages of my notes. I don't even make it a habit of talking about guys with my friends. Actually, LORD you are the only person that I talk about guys to”

His response:

“...and that is why I am the one person that can tell you how boy crazy you are. Besides you are already getting too defensive...”

I have spent a lot of time pondering this conversation and I guess I have realized that God was right - I can get a little boy crazy. While on one hand, there is nothing wrong with finding men attractive, God put the desire in there for a reason. There is something wrong when guys become a distraction in your life. Looking back at a few specific scenarios in my life, I have realized that whenever God has a specific task for me to do in a particular season, my biggest distraction happens when a “fine” Christian young man pops up out of the blue. The enemy has realized (long before I did) that guys are a distraction to me and he sends them at their finest whenever he wants me distracted from the task God has called me to do. While I am not a date-for-fun kind of girl so nothing really happens with these guys, they do take a lot of place in my heart. Thoughts from whether they are interested in me, to whether they could possibly be “the one” occupy so much of mind that I have a hard time focusing on the task at hand.

Have you ever been there?

See, I always thought that just because according to the worlds standard I was not “boy crazed” I was okay in that area. However, I am constantly reminded that God's standards are more stringent because He looks at the heart. So ladies, what is your heart distracted by? Ask the LORD to show it to you and let's try together to refocus on the One who truly matters and spend less mental energy on even seemingly good things that take away from the time we could be spending with our King.






Salem Afangideh is a second year law student that moved from Nigeria, Africa to Alabama. Her passions include pursuing and being pursued by Jesus, fighting against human trafficking, bringing justice and compassion to wherever God leads her, speaking and writing to encourage others in their relationships with the LORD. Her daily desire is to decrease and let God increase in her as she serves others. When she is not too busy studying you can find her blogging at setapartwarriorprincess.blogspot.com or on instagram @afro_princess.

Hey There, Delilah

Desire, charming, captivating are some of the root words used to describe the name “Delilah” and looking at the story of Samson in the book of Judges shows Delilah to be the seductress who could bring down the most powerful man of God. She was every bit manipulative, sweet talking, and desirable.

When we read through the book of Judges, we tend to want to learn from women like Deborah who was such a powerful example of Godly femininity but there is also something to be learned from Delilah. Although she is a classic example of femininity used wrongly, she knew the power of femininity and was great at manipulating because of what she had.

In our modern day world where being female is considered weak and women are constantly trying to become like men, I think there is something to be said about the strength that women possess when we truly embrace our femininity. Here are a few of our “secret weapons” that can be used effectively for Gods Glory in our relationship with others:

1. Our Words: Delilah single-handedly caused the most powerful man of her generation to loose his power because of her nagging and manipulative words. Every day we have so many opportunities to speak life to the men in our lives whether that is a husband, boyfriend, brother, teacher, pastor, random guy sitting next to us in class. Life and death is in the power of the tongue and by our gentle words, kind words, wise words people can be drawn closer to the heart of the Father. 

Nagging and manipulative words may get you what you want at the moment, but in the long run it destroys a relationship/friendship.

1. Our Love: I grew up hearing the saying that “behind every successful man is a woman” and oh how true it is! As powerful as men are, there is an extra measure of blessing to them that comes from having a woman that loves and accepts you the way you are. It is a sweet blessing to be respected, nurtured, and . Women are created with a deep capacity to love, we are made to be relational beings and that is why we can come up with several different creative ways to show love to the people around us.

Sometimes its easy to stifle our ability to love and reserve it for our (future) husband and kids, but even as single young woman we have the responsibility to channel this love to serve others in the body of Christ. Not necessarily by seeking to serve the single, good looking young men in church, but by cooking for that old couple that lives by themselves, or keeping the kids of that single mom who will probably never be able to pay you back, or writing encouraging letters to the new Christians in church, or maybe taking out one of the elderly widows for a dinner date night...There are so many unique ways that we can love others in the world around us and we need to take advantage of that because the love of a woman is a powerful gift to the world.

1. Our Drive/Motivation: Delilah had set her eyes upon the money she would receive for bringing Sampson to the philistines and that motivated her to get the job done. We, as women have the powerful ability to do whatever we set our minds to do. We have an incredible opportunity to chose the things of the LORD to be passionate about and then help others to be focused on those . Rather than being driven by money, selfish gains, popularity, lets be driven by compassion and become passionate about the Church, about ending injustice in the world, about leading people to the LORD.

1. Our Beauty: To be the woman who caught the eyes of the most powerful man in the world, Delilah probably had it going on, but what use is it to develop and cultivate a physical beauty with a shallow heart? 1 Peter 3 says we should be women whose beauty comes from the inward radiance of our hearts. The most beautiful of women are those that though outwardly they may not meet the worlds standards of beauty, yet they reflect a beauty that literally draws people to them.

Time in God's presence makes a woman more beautiful!

While it is important to dress up Gods temple in a beautiful way, it is more important not to obsess over the beauty that comes from makeup, jewelry, certain kinds of clothes. We NEED to spend more time with the author of beauty who makes us beautiful rather than trying to create a superficial beauty. Godly women are the most beauty of women and the world sees a radiance when they look at us. Rather than using this beauty to manipulate and draw attention to ourselves, lets us our beauty to point others to the author of beauty!

Ladies, imagine how powerful of a force Sampson and Delilah would have been together for the Kingdom if she had used her “secret weapons” for the Glory of the King?


by Salem Afangideh

Flirtatious Living

By Salem Afandigeh

From batting eyelashes to dressing to attract, little girls are subtly encouraged to use their feminine appeal to manipulate and get attention. Sadly, this doesn't get any better with age, as we see a trend of teenage girls that are perfected in the art of flirting who later grow up to be women that constantly draw attention to themselves.

Flirting is not solely about getting the attention of a certain guy, it is about drawing attention to ourselves.

First time I ever considered that maybe this wasn't an example of biblical femininity was about 3 years ago when I was reading through Proverbs 7 and 8 and I heard the Holy Spirit's conviction in my heart that I was more of a proverbs 7 woman that I was of the proverbs 8 woman (ouch!) A little background about those two passages of scripture; Proverbs 7 describes the adulterous woman who seduces with her words and gets men to pay attention to her because of all she is on the outside, while Proverbs 8 describes Wisdom as a woman who is a little less obvious on the outside but so very rich with power, insight, and beauty on the inside.

I remember immediately arguing with my Spirit that I would never ever do what the Proverbs 7 woman did! But was reminded that it was more about who she was than what she did. The Holy Spirit convicted me about how much in my every day life I drew attention to myself instead of the LORD and I was convicted, humbled, and led to my knees.

See ladies, the LORD tells us what should attract people to us, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit (1 Peter 3:4). Having a “gentle and quiet Spirit” doesn't necessarily mean we are reserved and quiet all the time because some of us have more “loud personalities”, but it doesmean that we know when to speak and when to be silent. It means our words are used to build up rather than to tear down. It means that there is a certain mystery about us that intrigues people and makes them want to know more. The very fact that we are ladies means God took a little bit more time in creating us with curves and all so we could be inherently beautiful (even on those days when we don't feel like it) but if our exterior is all that people notice about us when they spend time with us, then we might need to re-evaluate our hearts. Jesus within us never stays bottled up! He shines through us and makes us so beautiful and magnetic to a world that doesn't know what true beauty is.

One of my favorite verses about anti-flirtatious lifestyle has been “Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires” Songs of Solomon 8:4 and for me it applies not only in relationships with guys, but in friendships and every time I am surrounded by people. I love how practical it can become because I know at the exact moment I am about to say something for the sole purpose of making people like/love me more (we all do). Jesus shines through us and people see that. The more time we spend with Him, the more we reflect Him, and like Jesus who never sought to draw attention to Himself but always pointed back to the Father, we ought to do the same.

The Pain of Obedience

by Salem Afangideh

For me, this season of obedience looks like a whole lot of sleepless nights, studying for 4-6 hours every day, an exhausted brain, constantly rejecting opportunities to hang out with friends so that my free time can be spent with my beloved, trying to squeeze out some time at the end of the day to hang out with my family.

In the past I have typically been content with whatever the LORD has called me to do. I have grown to be comfortable with waking up in the early hours of the morning (even though I am NOT a morning person) to spend time with Him. I have even embraced the fact that I will forever been known as weird because God has this idea often that I need to go up to random people and pray for them or encourage them with whatever Word He has put on my heart for them. But then, the LORD decided to stretch me even further, when He decided to call me to this crazy wild ride called "law school".

Now, I am not totally going to blame this on the LORD because although I know that this is how He specifically wants me to use my talents to serve the 27 million people in slavery today, I did have the desire to go to law school and I believe that when God calls you to do something, He will put a desire (sometimes it may be a really small desire) in your heart for what He has called you to do, but that does not mean it will be easy.

What does obedience to the LORD look like in this season of your life?

That is not an easy question to answer. If you don't spend a lot of time in His presence; enough to discern His will—It could be as simple as sitting with your sick neighbor and loving on them, or as complex as moving to another country to show people the love of Jesus. Either way, you play a very important role in His Kingdom coming to earth and sometimes you will be required to give of yourself and your resources until it absolutely stretches you and hurts.

In those moments when you are the most stretched for His Glory, let your heart echo the words of David in 2 Samuel 24:24 "I will not give to the LORD an offering that cost nothing"

27 Million Tears

By Salem Afangideh

I recently saw the movie “Lincoln” in theaters and was amazed by how much President Lincoln was willing to sacrifice to bring freedom. Often when we hear about the slave trade, its so easy to think about what we would have done had we been born during that time period. Would we have dared to make a stand for freedom? Could we have possibly been one the “Lincolns,” “ Rosa Parks,” “Martin Luther Kings?” 

Although the slave trade is over, there is still a need for the “Lincolns” of our generation to rise up and proclaim freedom. See, there are more slaves in the world today than the there were in the entire Trans-Atlantic slavery! 

Human trafficking is modern day slavery!  

There are 27 million people in the world today are physically enslaved to other people, forced and coerced into bonded labor slavery, about --- of women and young girls are manipulated and threatened into sex slavery. Most people have heard about trafficking but always think about it as some foreign country problem and while a lot of the trafficking does take place in Europe, about 100,000 people are trafficked into America every year with 27,000 American children at risk of being trafficked. 

27 million sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, parents, friends, beloved children of God, do not physically have the freedom that you and i do. The reality of this truth is what pushes me to be a law student, to be an advocate for freedom. 

Knowing that 27 million people need to be brought to freedom can be a little bit overwhelming but everyone can play a role in fighting modern day slavery. Here are some practical ways you can do something now: 

1. Be aware of the trafficking hotline number in case of any suspicious activity (18883737888). Save it on your phone.
   
2. Research about human trafficking, read books to be better informed, attend training events.
   
3. Pray for slavery to end.
   
4. Get creative with your talents and social media to tell others about the evils of human trafficking
   
5. Write encouraging letters to women just rescued from slavery with the A21 campaign.
   
6. Buy fair trade products that are made slave-free
   
7. Visit some anti-trafficking websites and partner with them. Some of the big ones are (1) a21campaign.org (2) Ijm.org (3)freetheslaves.net (4) slaveryfootprints.com (5)enditmovement.com
   
8. Support the ladies just rescued from slavery by purchasing their jewelry at nightLight international.
   

Don't let the desire to fight slavery be a burst of passion in you, but let God use your talents and gifts everyday to bring freedom to His children. We are all imperfect vessels that can be conduits of His perfect Grace to the 27 million enslaved today. We all can dry the tears of these 27 million, one people at a time, one day at a time.  Lets end slavery in our generation!

Spiritual Friendships: One Night with Sharon

By Salem Afangideh

I remember that night so clearly. I was lying on my little boarding school bed tossing and turning until about 1 a.m. in the morning. I was very mad at myself for not being able to sleep because I had a huge day the next morning; I wasn’t exactly sure what was wrong. I remember slowly crawling out of my bed, taking my blanket, and walking out of the room to the spot that had become my “God spot” over the years. I would talk to the LORD about what was going on, but had no idea that He would totally change my world that night. As I crept slowly down the stairs and approached our “spot” I noticed a faint figure already sitting there. Slightly agitated, I kept walking and trying to see if I knew whom it was. I noticed it was the new girl, Sharon; she was sitting there praying.

Unlike most of my friends that had been in the boarding school since 7th grade year and had all grown up together, Sharon changed schools and had just started 10th grade year with us; she was a little bit of the outsider. However, her gentle and quiet spirit and her love for Jesus was so outstanding. She was so confident in her relationship with her savior and her identity in Him that I secretly wanted to be friends with her. However, in the past year, a very great friendship ended and I was still bitter and learning to forgive, so I kept Sharon at arms length. I was very nice to her, but not wanting to be close enough to anyone that they could hurt me.

Something was different about this night, instead of going back to my room, I went and sat beside Sharon and asked if I could join in her prayer time. After our prayer time, we started reading the Bible and as we read the first verse, James 5:16, “therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for each other that you may be healed”, I felt my heart knit with hers, and what happened next was a total shock to me. I was very much a private person at that time and had a lot of feelings bottled up, but I started confessing and venting to her. Three hours later, after we both confessed, vented, repented, laughed, and prayed over each other, we went to bed both totally free and healed.

It’s been 7 years since that night with Sharon and she has become my best friend in the entire world.  We prayed together almost every night at midnight for about 3 years, held each other to the utmost standard of purity, and were full of intercession for the other. Our friendship was a safe place, not only for the two of us, but also for others around us. Even though we are now 8000 miles apart, on different parts of the world, in several different seasons of life, whenever we speak to each other, our conversations typically begin with “how are you doing in the LORD” and “what has the LORD been teaching you in this season.” The conversation typically ends with questions about any sins that have yet to be confessed in either of our lives. She has taught me the power of confession and accountability!

I am a firm believer in Christian accountability and I have grown tremendously in my faith because of several mentors and accountability partners in my life. You may not have one thrown directly into your life like I did; you may have to seek and search for one, but I promise that it is worth it. Ask the LORD to show you someone that you can be accountability friends with. If you already have one, be intentional about keeping each other accountable. Consider becoming a mentor to a younger Christian and teaching them the importance of discipleship and accountability.

(Also, I recommend same sex accountability relationships because there is a certain level of commitment and closeness that comes with an accountability relationship that can lead to too much emotional attachments with persons of the opposite sex.)

A Surrendered Wardrobe: Part One

By Salem Afangideh

My beautiful sisters in Jesus, as we get to the end of the year, its time to receive tons of gifts and release the negative things that have happened this year as we get ready for 2013. I know lots of shopping trips and new outfits are in your future, so I hope you take sometime to focus on having a surrendered wardrobe. This is part 1 of a 2 part blog series, and it is going to be focused on what a surrendered wardrobe is. The next part will be a fun illustration of what a surrendered wintered wardrobe looks like.

                 

1. A surrendered wardrobe realizes that its goal is not to draw attention to herself but to Jesus Christ. This should be the foundation of our fashion choices as daughters of the KING. We are called to represent Our King in everything and our fashion is no exception. I would highly recommend writing this out and putting it somewhere visible ear your wardrobe, because if your reason for wanting to be fashionable is a guy, or other friends, you will be utterly miserable.
2. A surrendered wardrobe is one that lets Jesus and not people determine how she dresses. The culture today has many trends, and many popular magazines have ideas on what looks “fashionable” but do we look more to them, or more to the Holy Spirit in us to guide us when we go shopping or when we are putting outfits together? 
3. A surrendered wardrobe does not hoard. When we realize dear sisters, that we have been given everything we have, its easy to let go of that pretty LBD that has become too snug, its so easy to give away to others who are less fortunate, and if you have a “plato's closet” near you, you can make some money while getting rid of excess clothes. In my family, my mom has always made us give away some old clothes whenever we buy new ones. With every new outfit you buy, you have to take an outfit out of your closet and give it away. Although I didn't particularly enjoy it at first, it has been a huge blessing in helping me decide when to spend my money, and also a lesson in realizing that nothing should be too precious to give away.
4. A surrendered wardrobe realizes that her clothing houses God's temple. When we realize that we are literally the dwelling place of the LORD and the way we choose to dress is the first reflection of that temple that others see, it changes everything.  I remember the first time I really started studying how to bring glory to God in the way I dressed, I was shocked when I realized that God wanted me to look cute. But when we get back to the old testament and see how God wanted His temple to be adorned and decorated, we kinda get the idea that He would like to be represented in a pretty looking temple.
5. A surrendered wardrobe is not inward focused. There is such a tension between being cute and making cuteness an idol. When I realized that there was freedom to be cute as a Christian, I noticed that I eventually made it an idol. I would spend a couple of hours on Saturday night trying on and putting together outfits, and then I realized that the whole point of 1 pet. 2: – required that I spent more time on my heart, and my relationship with God than I did on my wardrobe. I still enjoy shopping, still enjoy putting outfits together, and still make an effort to look cute but I spent way more time with God than I do with my mirror.
6. A surrendered wardrobe is creative. Now hear me out on this one. You may feel like you are not super creative, but I strongly believe that every lady has some sense of creativity in her, no matter how small. God, the creative one lives in you so ask Him. He has created everyone with a special sense of style, so dig down deep sister...You've got the creative God in you to teach you to how to best represent Him with the right clothing choices for you

Finally, dear sisters, remember that wearing the right clothes and having a surrendered wardrobe will not magically make you beautiful. You may be drop dead gorgeous on the outside, but if your inside is not being transformed by Jesus Christ, your beauty is meaningless and will only cause the wrong people to be attracted to you for the wrong reasons!

Blessings, Joy, and peace...Be watching and waiting for part 2 coming soon!

---

The Gift of Singleness

By Salem Afangideh

“An unmarried woman is concerned about the LORD's affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the LORD in both her body and Spirit” 1 Corinthians 7:34

My dearest and beautiful sisters, I wish I could sit down with every one of you and have coffee and just chat about where you are in your view of singleness, because its almost too generic to just write about it without knowing where you are; I hope something in this post identifies with you because as a single young lady, I have felt them all. From frustration, to discontentment, to contentment, to wondering if a certain guy is the one, to desiring to be content, but not really being content, to actually being okay and seeing singleness as a gift. I pray that in some way, this post will lead you to release any bitterness about singleness you may have and receive the gift of singleness with a thankful heart.

. Here are some tips that have helped me in my journey through this season:

1. Take your frustrations to the LORD: One of my really good friend calls this cuddling season/the season of engagement and babies, and it is very difficult to be content with singleness if all your friends are talking about how amazing their boyfriend/fiance's/husbands are, or maybe you are the lady who has done the right things and right about now you had planned to be in your husband's home, but the LORD has different plans...this can be aggravating. So, take it to Him. Tell Him exactly how you feel about being single and let Him speak peace and calm over you!
2. Cut off things that sow the seed: I remember that the times in my life when I was the most desiring of a man was when I was engrossed in romance novels and movies, and after reading them I would ask God over and over again to take this desire for a man away because I knew I wasn't ready to be married or in a relationship, and I remember the one time He spoke clearly to my heart, that reading those novels only made things worse and that I needed to stop at least for a year. Its been 2.5 years since and I don't think I have picked up a romance novel since. I started back watching chick flicks after a year, but my mindset was changed so much in that one year that in a weird way, chick flicks only make me realize that He is my one true love, and after a chick flick I mostly always end up spending time with Him. My point is that maybe you need to cut off some books, movies, and maybe even cut down on some of the pinterest wedding planning (I know, I just went there) but seriously though, Jesus said “if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off”
3. Have a purpose for your singleness: The verse above talks about a woman whose aim is to “be devoted to the LORD both in body and in Spirit” Only a single woman can spend crazy amounts of time with the LORD without having to worry about her kids & hubby needing her. Only a single woman can get up and go on a spur of the moment mission trip to help the less fortunate. Only a single woman can decide to spend every Friday night going to nursing homes, or spending time with the homeless on the street. There are so many ways that we can grow in our relationship with the LORD and I think we ought to take advantage of that. During my quiet time a couple of months back, the LORD showed me that right now is the only time in my life that I can love on my brothers and have such a significant impact in their lives and in their relationship with Him, because they get to see me every day and see how I interact with Him. The LORD also gave me the idea to write down a list of things I want to do before I say “i-do” and focus on actually doing them while I still had the time to do them, and that has been such a blessing. Some of the things on my list are learning how to sew, doing some kind of foreign mission work, etc ….SO, I encourage you dear friend to sit and think for a little while about the mission statement of your singleness and how you will intentionally use this time of your life to bring Glory to God.; maybe learning to have a consistent quiet time, learning to be filled with gentleness, teaching a kids class? Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you!
4. Have a Re-defined view of marriage: I think Hollywood has given us an unrealistic view of marriage and so many Christians in the Church today don't really reflect God's ideal for a Christian marriage. So we have a group of people that are very cynical of marriage, love, and relationships and if you happen to be one of them, I will say that marriage is a beautiful gift from the LORD and it is meant to be a picture of Christ and His bride – the church. However, if all you think about marriage is how nice it will be to have sex all the time, I would say to you that marriage is beautiful, but it requires some sacrifice and a dying to self, so rather than thinking sex, think, “dying to self”. There are a ton of good Christian books about the realistic view of marriage, and I would recommend reading “Sacred marriage” and “The art of marriage” if you need to see marriage through God's eyes. 
5. Fall in Love with the LORD: I strongly believe, dear sister, that this is the answer to every question in our spiritual walk. The more you fall in love with Him, the more everything else pales in comparison. A great earthly marriage may last a long time, maybe even up until you depart from this earth, but a relationship with Him is the only thing that will last forever, so why not use these single years to invest time in loving Him and growing even more in your intimacy with Him. You can never have too much intimacy with the LORD, so read the 66 letter love story He's written you, worship Him passionately, steal away time to be in His presence, write Him love letters, songs, poems. Hang with Him and let Him lead you on whatever path He wants for you, while you accept and cherish this precious gift and season of singleness.