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#9- Weeded Garden

Ok, you may look at the list of what I have done so far and go, “Hmm, she has done an awful lot of housework.” I understand that. God has recently been teaching me to be faithful in the little things during this challenge. I’m a go getter, I have big plans and ideas and though I don’t mind doing little things, I felt like I wasn’t doing “hard enough” things. After talking to my mom, I believe the Lord was telling me that it is ok to do “small hard things” and wait for chances to do big hard things. So my hard thing (for Saturday actually) is weeding the garden. We have a pretty large garden and I have been taking care of it this year. A couple weeks back I took Drivers Ed in the mornings and was unable to weed it, so this week our bean plot was full of weeds. This Saturday, I weeded, mowed and trimmed the whole garden, in the morning, and I still had time to help with other projects. I don’t know about you but Saturday’s at the Bowers are a whole lot of work. But hard work is good for you. As my mom always says, ‘work is the best fun’. I have grown up doing household tasks, yard work and more, plus any other projects that I am doing (clubhouse, 4H projects and soon to come chicken coop and chickens!). If you want something, you work toward it. So even though weeding the garden isn’t the hardest of things to do, it speaks of hard work and doing the simple small hard things to glorify God!

Priscilla

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

#8- Decided to stop reading the ‘Peeved section’

Our town newspaper, the Mooresville tribune is delivered to us every Friday. I don’t usually read much of it, I skim the contents, read the ‘Peeved’ section and put it down. The ‘Peeved’ section is basically where people in Mooresville can enter complaints to the newspaper and they get published. Yeah. At first it was funny to read people’s rants, then it got ridiculous and then today I read the ‘Peeved’ section for the last time. Literally. My hard thing today was a personal decision to stop reading the ‘Peeved’ section. I used to do it just for fun but reading material like that isn’t uplifting. Doesn’t it say in Phillipians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice!” Or “Whatever is true and honorable, think on these things.” Is it truly honorable to be reading complaints? I can use that time to read the Bible. Which is the second part of my hard thing. When I see the newspaper sitting around and I am tempted to go read it, instead I will go get my Bible and find a good chapter to read instead. Think about what things you read, watch and listen to that is not honorable and then change.

Priscilla

Posted by Posted in 100 Hard Things Challenge, Bible attributes, Bible characteristics, challenges, do hard things, faith, Family, Home, Living for God, me, memorys, myth of adolescence, teens, teens doing big things, the rebelution, time

#7- Took Initiative in the Kitchen

So my hard thing today was to take 30 minutes of my time and take some initiative. Taking the garbage and recycling out, snapping the green beans and going to pick all the garden produce. Simple acts like this can make a big difference to some people like our parents. Ephesians 6:2 says “Honor your mother and father…” We can do this by doing little things like helping out where we can. I think about it and I go… “hmm my Mom makes me three meals a day, has home schooled me since preschool, taxis me around everywhere, loves me, supports me and teaches me to be a godly young woman. And my Dad, he goes to work to provide for my meals, our home and everything else, he leads our family, he gives me books to read and projects to do, he loves me, supports me, and teaches me how to be a godly young woman. They both embrace my crazy ideas and are dedicated to help me learn and grow. They love each other, me and my siblings. They do so much for me, why don’t I do something for them? Something as simple as kitchen chores… When you see something that needs to be done, do it, you don’t know who you will bless. 🙂

Priscilla

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 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