A Real Man

Just wanted to share this photo! Hold out for a gentleman ladies. My boyfriend always opens the door for me. It's just a little thing, but it makes me know he'll always take care of me. Once I decided to trust God and pray for Him to lead me in my life, not necessarily to a good man, but just to lead me in life, He then blessed me with the most amazing man ever.

Guard my life for I am devoted to you, you are my God, save your servant who trusts in you.
Psalms 86:2

Unanswered Prayers❤

Ever wonder why God doesn't answer your prayers immediately?

God answers prayers in three ways:
1. Yes
2. Not now
3. I have something better in mind

These are hard things to take when you want something immediately. Every lessoned learned is done the hard way. I know from experience the anxiety of God choosing to tell me "Not now" or "I have something better in mind". This past summer was rough for me.

Things had occurred in my life that I was not happy about. I spent many nights in tears, praying God would change what had happened. After several months, I realized the answer was not going to be "Yes". I was expecting it to be "Not now" though. I just knew that God would turn the situation around and things would be right again...

That was not the case. God had something way better in mind for me. I still pray for the situation from this summer, but not in the same way that I used to. I know now that God used that time in my life for me to grow spiritually and to trust Him with everything in me. Because I trusted him, God blessed me with the most amazing person in my life.

"Eye hath not seen, not ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which Hod hath prepared for hem that love Him" -1 Corinthians 2:9

Beauty❤

Splendor & Beauty

I spent some time yesterday on a blanket under this tree on campus. It was an incredibly beautiful day. As I sat there and looked around at the orange, red, and yellow leaves, I was in awe of the splendor of autumn. Looking at this beauty, you can not tell me that God did not create everything. 

Power

Mercy

Love

Splendor

Grace

Perfection

That's all I could think of while sitting under this tree. I knew that God had a plan for everything in my life. Even during the toughest times. Finals are in just a few short weeks. Remember to not stress yourself to the max in the coming weeks. Study now, don't procrastinate until then. Also, find the wonder in God's creation and enjoy it. It brings me peace. 

The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace. Psalms 29:11

Thankful Hearts❤

Thankful Hearts are the Happiest

Hello again ladies!

It is November, and you know what that means...THANKSGIVING!

What are you thankful for this month?

Giving thanks always for all things untoGod the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Ephesians 5:20

Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be madeknown unto God. Philippians 4:6

I am doing the 30 Days of Being Thankful Challengeon Facebook. Yesterday being November 1 was the first day of the challenge. Myfirst thing to be thankful for was my salvation. It is the most important thingto me because it is the one thing I least deserved.

Today, November 2, I was thankful that my 5 weekclass was completely over.. ;) While I enjoyed it; it was a lot of work.

For being overwhelmed in my life, I look back tothat verse in Philippians that I posted earlier.

“Be careful for NOTHING: but in EVERY THING” prayto God. When you are worried and overwhelmed, give it all to God. Trust Him –cast your care on Him. Be thankful that he is with you.

Remember ladies: It is not happy people that arethankful, but thankful people that are happy.

Tell your true friends that you love them and arethankful for them. Tell your mom that you are thankful for her. I do not knowwhat I would do without my mom in my life. She is the greatest person I know,and I love her very much. If you have siblings, be thankful for them as well. Iknow it would have been a very lonely time growing up if it had not been for mylittle brother, and for those friends that I consider to be family as well. BETHANKFUL!

Dear God,

Thanks for thisbeautiful life, and forgive me if I do not love it enough.

Revenge

Revenge is Sweet

Hello dears!

Today, I was very upset with some people in my life. Iwent so far as to think what I could do to pay them back for what they did tome…

Now, I know that was wrong of me, but we all mess up.Instead I went to my Bible. I know what God says about revenge, but I needed tobe reminded.

Recompense to no man evil for evil. Providethings honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth inyou, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, butrather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I willrepay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst,give him drink; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Benot overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:17-21

The hardest thing for me to do is to be nice to someonethat has purposely hurt me. In high school, this was the biggest downfall ofmine. I was the one that could lash out at someone when they had hurt me. Goddoes not want us to do that though, and I know that now.

He tells us to “live peaceably with all men.”  God also tells us that it is not our place toavenge ourselves, but that vengeance belongs to him. It also says that weshould feed our enemy if he is hungry, meaning we should be nice to them andhelp them even if they are mean to us. In doing this, we will “heap coals offire on his head.” I have written in the margin of my Bible to: Be nice to yourenemies. They will hate that the most. ‘Payback’ belongs only to God.

Hard words to live by? Yes. God did not promise that itwould be easy, just that it would be worth it.

So, ladies when that girl that does not like you, andalways tries to start “drama” with you, begins to say something, just be kind.You do not have to like her, but you have to “live peaceably” with her.

Have a wonderful day! 

Loving & Waiting

Hi my ladies!

Remember in my last post when I told you to not follow your heart, but to follow the conviction of the Holy Spirit? I told you that God would give you the desires of your heart. Well, I wanted to go in to more detail about that.

I have told you a little about my past and things I went through. I told you about that boy that broke my heart. Well, these verses are what really got me through that time:

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. Jeremiah 29:11

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. I Corinthians 2:9

I just love these promises. I have seen them take place in my life already within the last few months. I have more friends now than ever. I have a wonderful guy in my life that loves the Lord. I am making good grades in college. I am really enjoying life. I have seen what God can do in your life when you really give everything to Him.

Do you ever try to make things happen in your own way? Of course you do. We all do that. I want something to happen right then, and forget that God’s timing is always perfect. What if really forget is that God has even better things planned for my life then I could even imagine. It is just a matter of being patient.

But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Romans 8:25

Just wait on God for what His will in your life is. That is one of the hardest things you will ever do. “But if we hope for that we see not” meaning that even though we cannot see what God has plans we still hope and know that He will carry through with what is best for us. “Then do we with patience wait for it” then our patience level will continue to increase and we will be stronger in our lives as we continue to wait on God’s Will.

Love God. Wait for Him. He will bless your life more than you could have ever imagined.

Love you all! 

Love of Your Life❤

Hello again my dears!

I am a romantic at heart. Are any of you?

“If you are looking for the love of your life,stop. He will be waiting for you when you start doing things you love.”

Such true words.  I just love to go on Pinterest and search “Quotes”.I find so many things that I just find inspirational.

Many girls want to find someone that loves them.There are many that do not of course have any desire to marry, but I am talkingto those of us that want love. Those that want to find that one man that Godhas for us. Through my teenage years, I dated a lot of boys. I wish I had nothave dated so many, but it has made me the person I am today. To you fourteen,fifteen year old girls, I want to say, have friends that are boys and girls,spend time in groups. Do not date at this age. It is just not worth theheartache that can accompany it. Many girls this age use the word “love”, butdo not understand the real meaning. I will get to that in a minute though. Manygirls think love is solely a feeling. It is not.

Ever heard the saying “Follow your heart”? Well,that is not what you should follow. Your heart can cause you to lust afterthings that are not good for you.

The heart is deceitful above all things,and desperately wicked; who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try thereins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruitof his doings. Jeremiah 17:9-10

Do not follow your heart. Follow the conviction ofthe Holy Spirit. You will be led in the right direction for your life and Godwill give you the desires of your heart!

Now, for what I have to say about love. I foundthis quote:

Love is not perfect. It is not afairytale or a storybook, and it does not always come easy. Love is overcomingobstacles, facing challenges, fighting to be together, holding on and neverletting go. It is a short word, easy to spell, difficult to define, andimpossible to live without. Love is work, but most of all, love is realizingthat every hour, every minute, every second was worth it because you did ittogether. –Unknown Author

Have I been in love? At 19 years old, most girlsdo not understand the real meaning of being in love. I can honestly say though,that I have been in love. I had known the boy from the time we were two yearsold. We began dating when I was 18. It was the spring semester of my senioryear, and I had just gone through a very rough time in my life. He was my bestfriend, and I was in love with him. He was in love with me too. We talked ofgoing off to college together, getting married and having a family together. Wewere together for over a year, and then things got bad between us. I will notgo into too much detail, but he began to lie to me and do other things not of aGodly man, and was not the man I fell in love with. We broke up and I washeartbroken but I learned a lot from that experience.

I have learned that daydreaming is a good thing,but life does not always give you what you want. That is another example offollowing your heart and not the Holy Spirit. Love is not always a feeling.When you get mad or upset, you do not always feel like loving someone. Love is a decision. You have to work at it every day.When you get mad, never walk away. My grandma and grandpa have been married 50years now and when asked how they made it work, my grandma answered, “When youget mad, you do not walk away. You talk it out and you compromise for theother.” You have to work to love someone. You must show them you love them aswell. Love is when the other person’s happiness is more important than yourown.

I learned very much during this time in my life. Inever really understood it all until I went through that time in my life.

“True love is a work in progress. So stopcomplaining, quit daydreaming, and WORK!”

I will leave you with these Bible verses aboutlove:

Charity suffereth long, and is kind:charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. Doth notbehave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinkethno evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth allthings, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charitynever faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether therebe tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.I Corinthians 14:4-8

He Knows My Name

Hello again!

I was thinking about this last night as I spent time just star gazing and wanted to share it with you all. I absolutely love the stars. They interest me so much in how they shine and how far away they are. I begin to think about when God created everything and how big He is when I thought about how far away the stars are from the earth.

Have you ever wondered how big God is? Why He would care about us and our problems? Sometimes when I pray to God that is exactly how I feel. Like, He has so many other things He has to deal with and so many other people that are more screwed up than me. Of course, that’s when I think I can take things into my own hands, and I just make a bigger mess of things.

Here’s how big God is:

Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Isaiah 40:12

Now that’s big! All the waters of the earth in the palm of His hand, and the enter space of the universe was with the span of his hand. That is when you hold your hand out and it’s the space from your thumb across your hand to your pinky finger.

Here is a verse about the creation of the stars:

And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. Genesis 1:16

That’s it. “he made the stars also.” Now that’s power. Five little words is all there is in the Bible when it talks of the days of Creation and God making the stars. Something that absolutely fascinates me, that is absolutely beautiful in a clear night’s sky in the summer time, was nothing for God to make. It almost seems like an afterthought, does it not? Like God thought, “Let’s throw those out there to light up the sky as well.” Sometimes I like to imagine that God knew how much I would love them and He put them there so I would be reminded of His power.

Think that is crazy that God would do something like that just for me? Well, He cares for me.

Here’s the lyrics to one of my all-time favorite songs:

He knows my name,

He knows my every thought,

He sees each tear that falls,

And he hears me when I call.

I have a Father,

He calls me His own,

He’ll never leave me,

No matter where I go.

The link on YouTube if you want to check it out! He Knows My Name

They are so true! God knew me before I was even born!

Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Jeremiah 1:5

God knew me. He knew I would love the stars. God cares about me. He is all powerful, and when I need Him, He is there. Remember ladies, the best friend you will ever have is God.

Love you all!

10 Ways to Love

Hello ladies!

A few months ago, I found an item on Pinterest about 10 Ways to Love from the Bible. I wrote them in my journal and made a poster of them for my room. If you can follow them, then you will have true love, whether with friends or with a boyfriend. I want to share them with you ladies as well.

 1. Love without Interrupting (Proverbs 18:13)

"He that answereth a matter before he knoweth it, it is folly and shame unto him."

2. Speak without Accusing (James 1:19)

"...let every man be slow to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath."

3. Give without Sparing (Proverbs 21:26)

"He coveteth greedily all day long: but the righteous giveth and spareth not."

4. Pray without Ceasing (Colossians 1:9)

"...since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you."

5. Answer without Arguing (Proverbs 17:1)

"Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of strife."

6. Share without Pretending (Ephesians 4:15)

"...speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things."

7. Enjoy without Complaint (Philippians 2:14)

"Do all things without murmurings or disputings."

8. Trust without Wavering (I Corithians 13:7)

"Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."

9. Forgive without Punishing (Colossians 3:13)

"Forebearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye."

10. Promise without Forgetting (Proverbs 13:12)

"Hope deferreth maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is the tree of life."

These ways to love can be applied to any relationship you have whether with family, friends, or a boy. The Bible is the book of love because it has the greatest love story ever told when God gave his son to be the recompense for our sins.

Love without interrupting. Listen completely when they are speaking, and do not judge them.

Speak without accusing. Do not accuse someone of something when you have only heard information from a third party. Talk one on one with the person involved, and be “slow to speak”. This means to not lash out at the person and say something you do not mean.

Give without sparing. Do what you can for others around you. When they ask for help, be there for them. When they seem down, cheer them up. When your friends need you, do not blow them off for someone else. Friends are the most important thing in your life as you grow up, not boyfriends.

Pray without ceasing. When you love someone, you want the best for them. Pray for them every day. Pray for their safety, their life and the decisions that they make. Pray they will always put God first, or pray that they will turn to God.

Answer without arguing. For some, this is the hardest one. When you get made, it is extremely hard to not open your mouth and just “let someone have it.” When you find out something that hurts you, the first thing you want to do is yell back. This is not the way to react though.

Share without pretending. Do not pretend like you like someone to their face and then turn around and talk bad about them when they are not around. This is something that all girls seem to do, especially in high school. No, you will not get along with everyone, and not everyone will like you no matter what you do. Speak the truth; do not pretend to be someone you are not. You will have true friends this way.

Enjoy without complaint. Enjoy life. Even if things are not going exactly the way you wanted them to.

Trust without wavering. If you can trust God with everything in your life, then it will be easier to trust those He places in your life. There will always be those people that tell you one thing, but do another.

Forgive without punishing. The best thing you can do for yourself and for someone in your life is to forgive and forget. God forgave us and our sins are as far removed as the east from the west. We should forgive someone and not hold it over their head that they messed up. Everyone makes mistakes.

Promise without forgetting. Ever had that moment where someone promised you something, but didn’t follow through on it? Does it crush you? It does me. If you promise someone something, then do it. If it’s possible that it won’t happen, then tell them that. Never promise something that you cannot follow through on.

In applying this to my own life, there is this person that I love. They at one point meant everything to me, but turned away from God. Some of the things they are now involved in isn’t good at all. I will not share the details, but I pray for them daily. Pray that they would be safe. Another thing that is always difficult is to answer without arguing. I am one of the most stubborn people you will ever meet. When I get mad, I have a tendency to just fuss and fight with the person. I am trying to get better about that. There is another verse that I just thought of. It says: A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger. Proverbs 15:1 When you can answer in a nice manner, then the other person will be more likely to calm down. Girls, when you want to fight with your friends, boyfriend, or parents, remember that if you can answer them in a calmer manner than the whole conversation can go more smoothly. It can also save some heartache from occurring from a fight. One more thing I want to touch on is the promise without forgetting. I had someone very close to me; promise me many things in life. None were fulfilled. I felt as though I had been lied to and I became very discouraged about certain things in life. I now know what it feels like for someone to completely break their promise, and I try to not promise something unless I know it is something that I can follow through on easily. I do not want to cause someone the same heartache that I felt.

Remember ladies, follow these ways to love. They come straight from the Bible which is the greatest book of love.

And I love you all! 

“If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.”

I wear a ring every day that has this quote on it. It reminds me daily that God will always be with me in whatever I go through in life. Through trials and temptations that I will face as I grow up, it’s a reminder that He is with me. He allows us to suffer through trials and temptations for our own good.

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. James 1:2-4

Dealing with the trials that you go through will make you a better person. As a teenager there are many different things we face with our peers in school. Everyone has different things that tempt them more so than others. There’s alcohol, drugs, sex, cheating, and stealing. I have found several verses for these things.

For alcohol: Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Proverbs 20:1

Alcohol messes with your mind and is damaging to your body.

For sex (fornication): For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor; Not in the lust of concupiscence,…That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. I Thessalonians 4:3-7

Fornication means consensual sexual intercourse between two people who are not married. The Bible talks about remaining pure until marriage. Among girls now a day, that is a foreign concept. It is more normal to have been with a man than to have not. Concupiscence means the selfish human desire for an object, person, or experience. God does not want us to have sex before marriage just because we want to or feel like it. He wants us to be holy and clean.

These are two of the biggest temptations for a teenage girl. I can honestly say that I have never drunk before. It was not something that ever tempted me, even as I am in college and living on my own. I have been around people when they were drinking and they became a different person to me. I have known others that were killed by drunk driving. When I was around the people that were drinking, the smell just made me sick to my stomach, and I never understood why you would want to get drunk and then the next day just be sick.

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man; But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. James 1:13-14

God does not tempt us because he is perfect and cannot tempt us with evil. Also, it says that every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Everyone does have their own things that will tempt them. You have to find ways to deal with what tempts you and be able to say no to it. As a girl in today’s society, it is very hard to say no. There are so many trials and temptations that come in your life. You will lose friends along the way, and find out who your true friends really are. Sometimes it will feel like there is no one that understands what you are going through, but there is always someone else out there that is dealing with the same thing.

“If God brings you to it, He will bring you throit.”

I Am Wonderful!

Hello, all. My name is Alyssa and this ismy blog. I started this blog as a project for a class I have at the college Iattend, but it is my desire that it will continue past the semester. I am aPublic Relations major, and I have always had the desire to be a Christianfiction author. I hope this blog can be used an encouragement to other preteen,teenagers, and young adult girls in the world. This will consist of posts ofScripture verses, quotes, and other things that I have found to be anencouragement in my life. No, I am not a perfect girl that has never doneanything wrong, but it is the things I have faced in my life that have made mewho I am today. It is my desire that I will be able to encourage you in yourlife through things you are facing. 

The title of this blog is "I AMWONDERFUL". Now, you may be wondering why that is. It is my belief thatevery girl is beautiful and wonderful, because of the Almighty Creator. I tookthis title from a verse in the Bible. "I will praise thee; for Iam fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soulknoweth right well." Psalm 139:14 

If you have any questions on anything Iever post, you can comment on any of the posts. 

I plan on posting on many differenttopics, but all in reference to teenage girls and young women. I myself willvery soon be 20. So I am not old, but I have learned a lot in my teenage yearsthat I feel like would be worth sharing. I have things I want to share with youabout life, love, trials, dating, being a wife, (not that I am one, but thingsthat help me prepare for when the day comes) and the one thing all girlsstruggle with, feeling pretty enough.

Now, the verse I chose to be my theme forthis, Psalm 139:14, is one of my favorite verses of all time. Another version states,

¹³ For you formed my inward parts;
    you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
¹⁴ I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.^[a]
Wonderful are your works;
    my soul knows it very well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
    intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
    the days that were formed for me,
    when as yet there was none of them. Psalm 139:13-20

God knew what he was doing when He created you. From the beginning He knew you. Growing up, I was one who tried to "fit in", try to dress and talk like I was older than I really was. I grew up hearing these things, but never took them to heart. I'll admit, I've struggled in my life just like any other girl. There have been people in my life as well that have made me feel like I wasn't pretty enough or good enough. These verse have been a help to me since that time. I hope they will help anyone reading this as well. God made you. 

You are "fearfully and wonderfullymade" by the Almighty Creator. I will use Bible verses and quotes throughout my whole blog. 

I use this website called Bible Gateway for the Bible verses and I use this website, Quotes for a lot of the quotes I find. I also find many quotes on Pinterest.