Posted by Posted in 100 Hard Things Challenge, Books to Read, challenges, do hard things, Fun Stuff, Home, Living for God, me, myth of adolescence, stuff to do, teens, teens doing big things, the rebelution, time, words

#6-Made a list of 15 “christian” books I would like to read

I decided to make a list of books I wouldn’t normally read but I should read, and read them! So I went around the what seems like hundreds of book shelves in our house and found 15 books I would like to read. (There are a couple other books my Dad gave me to read that are not included in the initial 15…) Here they are!!!

1. The Passion of Jesus Christ by John Piper
2. Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot
3. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
4. Questioning Evangelism by Randy Newman
5. The Fred Factor by Mark Sanborn
6. Cleared for Takeoff by Bob Griffin
7. Radical by David Platt
8. Enjoy Your Bible by Irving L. Jensen
9. Bloodwork by Anthony J. Carter
10. War of Words by Paul David Tripp
11. Worldliness by C.J. Mahaney
12. Created for Work by Bob Shultz (this book was geared toward boys but I remember reading it as a family a long time ago and wanted to reread it…)
13. A Little Book for New Theologians by Kelly M. Kapis
14. 52 Ways to Know Your Bible Better (unknown author)
15. The Serving Leader by Jennings and Stahl-wert

The books my Dad gave me to read are:

1. Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper (almost finished with it now!)
2. Concise Theology by J.I. Packer
3. Whats in the Bible by R.C. Sproul and Robert Wolgemuth

There are lots of good books out there! And no, theology and “christian” books are not just for grownups and pastors. Us teens can learn a lot from these sort of books. (Max Lucado does have some great “christian” books written just for teens. I have read “Wild Grace” and “Facing Your Giants” Both are really good and I would totally recommend them)

Thanks for taking some time to read this post! Now maybe you can go read some other good things too! 🙂

Priscilla

Posted by Posted in Bible, cool stuff, Home, Living for God, me, words

You are precious- Isaiah 43:1-7

Have you ever doubted that God loved you? Let this verse encourage you…

“But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel : “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, you Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom , Cush and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you. I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. Fear not, for I am with you; I will breing your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. I will say the the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, who I formed and made.”

Isaiah 43:1-7

These verses are an amazing account of God’s love for us! Yeah!!!

Priscilla

Posted by Posted in 100 Hard Things Challenge, backyard adventures, Bible, do hard things, Family, Home, I was thinking..., Living for God, me, myth of adolescence, stuff to do, teens, teens doing big things, the rebelution, time

#5- Exercised in my free time

School is done. There are lots of things to do now, but what should I really spend my time on? A garden needs weeding, a book is sitting on my shelf, there are siblings to play with… the list goes on. What should I do? Maybe, I will take a little “me” time. This doesn’t mean doing my hair, nails etc. (it is very rare to find me doing that stuff…VERY RARE) It means I will take some time to enrich my health. Whoa!!!! Am I really thinking that I will sacrifice my free time to exercise??? Great thought but no than… Why not? Why not take even just half an hour of my free time to exercise? It does say in the Bible that our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit. That means we take care of our bodies. Time is something that can be easily wasted but greatly used. How are you going to use your time?

Priscilla

P.S. After exercising I did read a book and play a game with my siblings. 🙂

Posted by Posted in 100 Hard Things Challenge, Bible, challenges, do hard things, Family, Home, I was thinking..., Living for God, me, memorys, myth of adolescence, stuff to do, teens, teens doing big things, the rebelution

#4-Wrapped Up Hose

Very simple one today. Hard things don’t have to be big, there is such a thing as small hard things too and this is one of them. Anyway, about the hose…
It’s a long story but we spilled ketchup on our driveway, it looks like someone died on our driveway so my parents, not wanting to be accused of murder asked me if I could clean the ketchup off. I was glad too. I took the hose and cleaned up all the ketchup. No biggie! When putting the hose back though, I decided to take the next step and coil it nicely. It would be easy to leave the hose lying all over the sidewalk, walk away and never think about it again. But that would be easy, not hard. Everyone has a chance to go above and beyond expectations and take initiative. My parents once did a “initiative program” with us to instill in us the habit of not leaving things half done but rising up to do more without being asked. I want to thank them for teaching us skills and character traits like that. Thank you Mom and Dad!!!

Priscilla

Posted by Posted in 100 Hard Things Challenge, challenges, do hard things, Family, Friendship, Home, I was thinking..., Living for God, me, myth of adolescence, stuff to do, teens, teens doing big things, the rebelution, words

#3- Apologized

It was late, I was tired, but it was still no reason to snap at my sister. While lying in bed I thought, “the easy thing would be to go to sleep right now, but I’m taking a hard thing challenge, so…” I did the hard thing, I apologized. Apologizing can be hard. Who wants to admit that they are wrong and shamefacedly go back to confess to the victim of their sin . I was wrong. I am sorry. Please forgive me. Sweet words. They show humility, not pride. Apologies are precious.

Priscilla

P.S. My sister and I have a habit of after we apologize we have a pillow fight. I don’t know why. Maybe it just helps us get out any last emotions that we have. (not really) We always leave the room laughing and best buddies again. 🙂