A good friend of mine recently shared her prayer request with me: that she would become more disciplined.  Disciplined in her finances, her health, and her relationships.  Disciplined in prayer, reading God’s word, and doing what it says. 

When I got off the phone, Jay and I watched Kingdom of Heaven.  The story takes place during the early Middle Ages, and at one point a walled city is under siege by a group trying to overtake it.  As I watched the movie I thought, “Oh good, they have a wall to protect them. As long as the wall holds and they don’t run out of resources, the people inside are safe.”  Can you imagine being inside those walls, listening to the roaring army outside and praying that they don’t make it in?  It makes my problems seem very insignificant!

Proverbs 25:28 says that a person without self-control is like a city with broken down walls.

Bam.  By desiring to practice discipline and self control in all areas of her life, my friend is building a strong wall.  There is so much wisdom in this!  What will this protect her from?

Financial bondage, failure, debt, and regrets
Health problems related to lifestyle choices
Barren relationships and lack of community
Missing out on how God works through prayer
Lack of wisdom
Lack of judgment

What areas in your life need more self-control?  How are you preparing for an attack on your city?

Michelle

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“Trials and troubles may seem to overwhelm you. They cannot do more than work my will, and that will you have said is your will. Do you see that you cannot be destroyed? From now a new life is opening out before you. Yours to enter into the kingdom I have prepared for you. The Sunlight of my presence is on your paths. Trust and go forward unafraid. My Grace is sufficient for all your needs.”

-A.J. Russell, God Calling

Some of you may really be struggling right now.  Maybe you are going through a break-up.  Or struggling with a severe illness.  Or having to hear your parents fight.  Or mourning over the loss of a loved one.

During my first year of university I went through a rough break-up, which was followed by the death of my best friend in a car accident 2 months later.  A year of darkness followed.  I remember hating waking up every morning because the reality would wash over me like a torrent.  My struggle can be summed up in one of my journal entries from that year:

“God, I feel like I’m drowning. Drowning in pain, confusion, doubts, and anger. The storm is raging against me, all around me, and I am so tired. I just want to give up. Relationships are not worth it because they all just end. God, where the hell are you? Why are you pounding me? JUST STOP IT - I am so tired - I can’t live like this. Please just DO something. You are so distant.”

I remember having the choice to either go through my pain with God, or to shake my fist and do it by my own strength. I chose to go through it with Him, and looking back I see how closely He held me through it all.

If a crisis in your life has brought you to a crossroads, I encourage you to walk through it with God.  He is not afraid of your confusion, anger, bitterness, or resentment.  He loves it when you are real and he loves you even when you don’t have energy to say or do anything.  Rest in Him, and he will give you peace.

Michelle

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Hi Friends!  This week has been insane with mid-terms, work and starting into term papers…sometimes I wonder if I’m living through it, or just kind of floating along on top while someone else lives my life!  Here’s what I’ve been chewing on this week.

Accountability…do you have it in your life?  If not, find some!  Last semester, I allowed busyness to exclude several mentors and close friends from my life.  It was hands down one of the worst semesters of my life, as far as spiritual growth goes.   This semester, I made it one of my new year’s resolutions that not only was I going to prioritize time for those people to be in my life, but I was also going to choose two or three of them to be completely and totally honest with in every area of my life.

As I have allowed myself to spend quality time with these ladies and share openly with them, I have found that three main benefits have come out of it.

1.   Our relationships are deeper. As ladies of all ages often express a lack of community to me and how much they miss it, I have come to realize how beautiful and enriching it is to have true community.  Not just ladies to drink tea with, but ladies to share LIFE with.

2.    There has been healing in my life. Often times when events of the past hurt us, we go cover the pain and repress the memories so that we don’t have to deal with it.  I was walking through life thinking I had dealt with most of the issues of the past and yet as I started talking to my “big sister”  she was able to point out behaviors and beliefs in my life that are still very much a result of past hurts.  I’ll never forget her telling me that my life is very much like a chronic illness (and I think this can be said of all of us), we walk around in pain…but the more pain we are in, the less we recognize it and the more we just accept it.  It is only when true healing comes that we are fully aware of how much the pain was holding us back.

3.    Though the temptation to sin still pops up on a daily basis, I find that it is much easier to resist it. It doesn’t mean that I’m perfect now, or that I no longer sin.  However, knowing that I am going be talking with someone I love about my actions has stopped me from a lot of wrong.  Whether it is thoughts, entering relationships I shouldn’t be in, or that little white lie.  It’s hard to confess our sin to one another and no one wants to confess more than absolutely necessary!!!

So where are you at?  Who is there that you can have a completely open relationship in order that you might grow and find freedom in your walk with Christ?

Andrea

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That’s What He Said

“I can’t trust a girl that is known to gossip.”

Oh my gosh.  Girls, as a dude, there are few things I HATE worse than a girl who is a ’spreader’.  Problem is, most people don’t even realize that they’re doing it.  For example, I once was talking with a girl, explaining how she really needed to stop gossiping about another person.  What did she do?  She went and talked to them about it!  Missed the whole point.

One of my wife’s closest friends is a HUGE gossip-hater.  (that’s a good thing!)  She started attending a college group at this great church, but after every service, they would go out to eat and everyone would gossip.  SHE LEFT THE GROUP!  Try to gossip around her- she’ll leave the room.  She hates it.  And that’s a good thing.

God hates gossip.  Relationships get ruined by gossip.  Gossip is a sin.  Cut it out.  Get rid of it.  Don’t let it near you!

But the answer isn’t to simply NOT spread gossip.  The point inside just to shut up.  It’s to go in the opposite direction- speak the truth in love.  RUN AWAY from gossip.  Pray for those around you.  Tell GOD on them!  Let your conversations consist of encouragement, laughter, prayer, and admonishment.  Sharpen each other.

Have a great day girls.

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This is Jessica.

A quick bio on this lovely lady:

She is 22 years old.  She lives in Burlington.  She works with kids and teens.  She loves to travel and explore.  She wants to have at least 8 kids someday.

She grew up in the backwoods of Mattawa on the Quebec border.  She is passionate about the Middle East.  Her family spent a stint as a Mennonite.  She is the second eldest of six kids (five girls).

She once got off a highway 3 exits early to get away from a guy who was checking her out!

By choice, she has never kissed a boy….well, at least since she was six!

And yes, she was one of my many childhood crushes.  Less than two years ago, after not seeing each other for ages, we met up randomly at a coffeeshop near her grandma’s house.  We talked and she was feeling ready to move out.  I said “move to Hamilton!”  She had been thinking that way, and after praying for a while, she did!

In the past 4 years she has led in two different youth groups, serving mostly high school girls.  She loves them dearly, and prays often that they’ll live like Jesus.

Here’s why I like her, and why you’ll like her too:

She’s a great servant leader.  She will do anything for you.  She works HARD.

She is VERY generous.  She is a HUGE part of the reason that The Sex Rev even exists.  She buys flowers for my wife, putting me to absolute shame.

She is absolutely committed to her purity and right living.  She spends tons of time with God, and has surrounded herself with godly relationships.

She’s great.  She loves people.  Seriously, I had to DIG for pics of just her, because every shot shes’s in is with other people!  She’s a great listener and a wise talker!

Jess will be posting on No Boys Allowed about once a week.  Believe me when I say this- she is worth your time.  She is worth listening to.  Learn from her. She has such a huge sense of understanding and perspective.  She knows what’s what.  Follow her as she follows Jesus.

Are you ready?!

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