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{Heart4Teens.com} *Walking in His Beauty* ______________________________________ If you enjoy this free email service, I encourage you to spread the word to family and friends that we may bring inspiration into the lives of teenagers everywhere! If you are not on the list and this has been passed along to you, you can join Heart4Teen.com readers around the world by sending a blank e-mail to: Heart4Teens-subscribe@myinjesus.com or visit: http://www.Heart4Teens.com Visit our inspirational web site and read all the past articles in our archives, and view the tons of resources we have there for teens! http://www.Heart4Teens.com/Teen_Stories ____________________________________________ Be sure to check out our other inspirational email list and web site! http://www.HeartTouchers.com To subscribe send a blank email to: HeartTouchers-subscribe@myinjesus.com _________________________________________ WALKING IN HIS BEAUTY by Jaye Lewis "She walks in beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies, And all that's best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her eyes...." --Lord Byron She is tall and slim spiritual, funny, irreverent, and serious. With her red-gold hair and her sea-green eyes, she is all that is good and right with the world. She is twenty-nine, a Christian, and single. She is all I wish I had been. She is my daughter, and no woman could ask for a better friend. Helen is a successful, advanced engineering student, studying classes that I cant spell or pronounce. She is faithful in action and in spirit. She seeks the Lord every day, in scripture and in service. She loves to cook. She is creative. She is pure magic with children. She would make a wonderful wife and mother, but Helen is not looking for a husband. Helen is waiting on God. We forget that. We forget to wait on Him. Helen was very popular in high school. With a hilarious sense of humor, she can mimic any voice or accent, but Helens humor is usually directed at herself. She has made many mistakes in her young life. She is not perfect. However, what she lacks in perfection, Helen makes up for in unadulterated, hard work. She wasn't particularly religious in high-school, nor afterwards, but somewhere around the age of twenty, Helen made a covenant. She drew a line in the sand, and she dared the enemy to cross. It was a bitter struggle for Helen, trying to battle the enemy on her own power. By the time that she reached her twenty-third birthday, Helen realized that she could not continue her battle alone. And that is where Helen came into the presence of God, and where she began to submit her will to His. We try to put God into a box and give him limits, but He has no limits, and He doesn't fit where we want Him to. God goes where He will, and He blesses whom He will, and if we find ourselves in the mud, He's usually there before us...waiting to lift us up. God wooed Helen. He courted Her, and in His Word, Helen saw a love story -- her love story, of the Lover of her soul and His bride. In the Song of Solomon, Helen saw a personal wooing and a promise of the Beloved, Jesus, for each individual. Somehow we Christians can believe that our Savior, willingly dragged a cross, up a rocky hill, after being beaten nearly to death, for all of us, as a group. However, Christ did not die for us. He died for ME and He died for YOU. Jesus died, was buried and rose again -- for each of us, and if there was only one person on the earth, He still would have come and shed His blood for that individual. Why is it that we can't believe that Christ is the perfect lover of our soul? Gentle. Wooing. Are we embarrassed? Uncomfortable? Sadly, even among Christians, I think we confuse "love" with "lust." I think we believe the world, and we forget the Spirit -- the Holy Spirit. I think we reach for momentary pleasure, and we starve ourselves of true happiness. I think we, on this tiny planet, are starved for love. Again, I think that we Christians have grown to believe the world. I am Helens mother. God took me, a woman raised with a distorted religious view and two violent marriages divorced, alone, penniless, with no means of support, thrown out onto the street with three kids and no clue, and God met me where I landed. From nowhere, He brought me, and He formed me into a new creation! His creation! He transformed my life. He rescued me from a religious cult. He saved my children, and He brought me together with the love of my life, my husband, Louie. He took three abused and hurting little girls, and he found a godly man to be their father -- a real father! God did all this! Not once, with all my figuring, and thinking, and planning, and all my mistakes did I find happiness. Only God could have brought me to where He was all the time...waiting for me, at the bottom of my life. He lifted me from the mud, and He brought me into His Kingdom, the Kingdom of God. THIS IS THE MIRACLE! I, now, belong to God! Oh, I loved Him with a passionate love, but I loved Him as a stranger, reading about a person I did not know. Someone, whom I desired to know, but DID NOT KNOW! Praise God, that He knew the difference. God knew that once I began to accept His grace, I would find my first love, Jesus. It has been over twenty years. I'm no longer young. I'm no longer a beautiful, young thing, but, my husband, the love of my life; and, Jesus, the Lover of my soul look at me, and I know that I am beautiful. I walk in happiness, because of my personal, individual, wooing, loving God, and the man I should have waited for, but didn't. I should have waited on God, and I did not. I should have waited for my husband, but I did not. So, you can see why I say that Helen walks in beauty. It is easy to see the obvious. She is lovely. She is brilliant. But Helen's radiance, her beauty, comes from deep within, where God dwells. Now, at 57, as I look at myself, as I count every pore, numbering every line, and knowing that my youth is gone, I still know that I am beautiful, because I see myself through the love of my husband, and I see myself through the eyes of Jesus. So, my message is simple WAIT ON GOD! I cannot say that loud enough. Seek Him. Seek Him in His Word. Seek Him in prayer. Let NO ONE, and nothing come between you and Him. You have free will. You have the choice. When you stumble and fall , REACH UP! Christ is there to lift you up. Keep your eyes on His light! If that Light ever moves, YOU are going in the wrong direction! If you think this world will ever give you happiness, YOU'RE STANDING IN THE WRONG LINE! JESUS. He brings peace, if you let Him, even in your turmoil, and Jesus brings Victory, even in defeat. Lean on Him. Trust in Him. WAIT ON GOD! Go about your daily life -- school, work, play. Put your hand in His. Don't worry about tomorrow, and don't try to make tomorrow become today. I promise that if you wait on God, you will be persecuted. You will be considered strange to others. You will be given ungodly advice, sometimes by godly people, who confuse opinion for the Holy Spirit. You will feel weary. You will feel lonely, sometimes; but God will never fail you, and He will NEVER leave you alone. Do not settle for the world's view. Do not settle for the world's best. Wait on God, for HIS best. I did not wait on God, when I was young and beautiful. I am learning from Helen. I am learning to wait on God, so that I, too, may walk in His beauty. Jaye Lewis jlewis@smyth.net Write Jaye and let her know your thoughts on her story! ******** Jaye Lewis is an award winning Christian writer who lives and writes in the beautiful southern highlands of southwestern Virginia. Jaye is currently writing her first book, a collection of memoirs from her life, reflecting the power of God's grace over the human spirit. The title of the book is Entertaining Angels. Jaye can be emailed at jlewis@smyth.net _________________________________________ LET'S GO SURFING DUDE! ~ Teen Q's Did you know that the Heart4Teens.com site provides biblically based answers to the tough questions that teens ask. Topics include everything from depression and eating disorders to Creation/Evolution and sexual purity. Check us out at: http://www.Heart4Teens.com/heart4teens _________________________________________ Reading Books, Changing Lives! For those of you who love to read or love to give out books as gifts... You can now order a number of different autographed best-selling inspirational books for the same price you would get them in the store, the shipping to you is paid for, and you are helping change the lives of teenagers and those they come in contact with! And best of all, every penny from the book sales are going to youth ministry! If you love to read inspirational stories, these books are most likely those you will eventually buy anyway. And how cool would it be to be able to buy books like those in the Chicken Soup series for your friends and family with a personalized autographed message by one of the contributing authors! How's that for a unique gift! Not only are you changing lives through supporting a youth ministry, but every book included on our website has the power to make a difference in the lives of those you give the books to. Check out this link to find out more! http://www.HeartTouchers.com/books _________________________________________ Thought For The Day: "Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed." Verse for the Day: "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him." James 1:12 Kid's Thought For The day: "Many people have too much will power. It is won't power that they lack." Parent's Thought For The Day "The great secret of a successful marriage is to treat all disasters as incidents and none of the incidents as disasters." --Harold Nicolson Coach's Thought For The Day "If character is to be learned, it must first be observed in those who have authority." --John Roberts Deep Thought For The Day: "The great thing about living in a small town is when you don't know what you're doing, someone else does." _________________________________________ ALL-STAR Ministry --The Youth Church of Faith Community Church in Janesville, WI If you are in 6-12th grade and live in the southern Wisconsin/northern Illinois area and would like to check us out, we meet every Sunday night from 6:00-8:30 PM at Faith Community Church which is located at 2931 Lucerene Dr. in Janesville, WI. (About 3 blocks south-east of The Skating Place.) Currently we have students from Fort Atkinson, Milton, Janesville Craig, Janesville Parker, Marshall, Orfordville, Clinton, Beloit Memorial, Beloit Turner, South Beloit, and Hononegah. E-mail me back if you have any questions about our weekly meetings or would like to come to any of our events that are listed below... We have way too much fun and then, most importantly, talk about issues that are relevant to you as a teenager. THIS WEEK: All-Stars: 9/14 -- Creation/Evolution Seminar The Outlet: 9/3 -- Discussion on the Resurrection of Christ Important Note: Both the Jr. High and Sr. High small groups will be meeting at the Powers house this week! _______________________________________________ UPCOMING EVENTS The last Summer Challenge is this Friday September 5th at Tedi's house! The Summer Challenge is for those students who would like to develop good spiritual habits. We have been meeting every other Friday night from 6:30- 8:30 PM throughout the summer. Those that make it through the challenge will be rewarded with a special all-expense paid two day trip at the end of the summer. For Those Students Who Pass the Summer Challenge: We will be attending the Michael W. Smith/Mercy Me concert in Milwaukee on Thursday, October 16. We will also be heading to the Dells on Friday night October 17th and then returning Saturday night October 18th. The only money you would need to bring would be for snacks and souvenirs if you wanted to buy them! ___________________________________________ Upcoming Topics: 9/14 Creation/Evolution 6:30-- 8:30 pm 9/19 Special: Creation/Evolution 7pm -- 8:30 pm 9/20 Special: Creation/Evolution 9 am - Noon ______________________ All-Stars has extended its time to 6:00 - 8:30 PM on Sunday nights. 6:00 - 6:30 will be time for the youth to chat and discuss anything they want with the youth leaders or each other. 6:30 - 7:00 PM will be for games or fun activities and then 7:00 - 8:30 PM will be for the lesson and discussion time. Students are still welcome to "hang out" after 8:30 PM if they want, as the leaders are usually at the church until at least 10:00 PM, and some nights even later. (For the past couple of months the students have continually complained that we are running out of time before we get to really discuss the topics in full and asked if we could have longer teaching times... I know, most of you are probably now getting back up off the floor from the shock. have been most encouraged that the teens have been wanting to stay longer to be able to discuss the lessons more fully.) The Outlet: "Get plugged into Jesus Christ!" (Teen Cell Groups) Wednesday night community groups for teens. The groups are limited to no more than ten teens and will be originally split into Jr. High and High School ages. This night is for those teens who want to dig deeper than what we do in All-Stars, but may not be ready to be a part of the Extreme Teens. These cell groups will also be doing special activities with each other as the year goes on to build community. Extreme Teens" (formerly the Core Group) meets from 5:00 - 6:00 PM at the church. This group is very extensive with weekly homework, memorization, service projects, etc. Students interested in this group will have to fill out an application, provide references as to why others think they should be involved with this, and sign an agreement as to what is expected of them. (If your teen will also be attending All-Stars that night, they are encouraged to bring a sack lunch or snack to tide them over until 8:30.) We are very excited at what God is doing with our youth! _________________________________________ Author MICHAEL T. POWERS www.Heart4Teens.com Contributing Author to Chicken Soup for the Teen's Soul on Love and Friendship and 15 other inspirational books. "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20 |
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Touching Lives - One E-mail at a Time! Author Michael T. Powers - HeartTouchers @ aol.com
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