you are beautiful.

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...because God made you. You don't need makeup or stylish clothes to be beautiful. Jesus has saved you! His love makes you beautiful.


Never tell yourself otherwise.

scripture on saturday - actions.

Matthew 7:17-18
"...so, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the deceased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a deceased tree bear good fruit."

Healthy tree? Deceased tree? Bad and good fruit? WHA?!

A healthy tree is a Christian. A person who has been born-again. A deceased [dead] tree is a person who has not turned to Christ.

While not judging others (you can read about that here), we can look at a persons actions to see if they are Christians. If you see a person keep repeating a sin, you can talk to them about it. But, don't be all like, "You are such a horrible person. Here, let me tell you why."

Yeah, NO.

But if that person doesn't seem to think that he/she is sinning, or his/her words are not lined up with the Bible, you can guess that that person has not been born again. Then...

You can help them come to Christ.

scripture on saturday - the narrow gate.

Matthew 7:13-14 [Jesus is talking]

"Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate that is wide and is easy leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few."

Entering through the narrow gate?! The wide gate leads to destruction? What the does that mean? What was Jesus talking about?

The gate (narrow or wide) represents your life, the path that you are taking, the way that you are going. The wide gate is the easy way, while the narrow gate is the harder way. If you go through the narrow gate, you will experience hardship. People won't like you.

You know why?

Because if you choose to go through the narrow gate, that means you are choosing Christ.

_______________________________________________________________________

The wide gate is usually pretty simple and fun, but Jesus says it leads to destruction.

So, why go through the narrow gate? Why go through hard things? (First of all, Jesus says the wide gate leads to destruction)

Let's look at the benefits of narrow gates, shall we?

Christians (people who go through the narrow gate) will get to spend FOREVER with Jesus after their death. They are sinful, they are not perfect, but they have trusted their lives with Jesus, and they get to spend forever with Him.

The wide gate? Their fate is not as pleasant. They will go to hell for forever.

But all the narrow-gaters can help the wide-gaters by showing them the narrow gate, and helping them walk to it. Help them trust their lives with Jesus.

That's what you can do.

scrpiture on saturday - the power of Jesus: calming a storm.

Jesus was (and still is) very powerful. To show/tell us this, He put a story about His power in the Bible. This story is in Matthew 8:22-26, and is about Jesus calming a storm.


Matthew 8:22-25
And when He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but He [Jesus] was asleep. And they [the disciples] went and awoke Him, saying "Save us, Lord. We are perishing."

We can see that Jesus and His followers have gotten into a boat, and while they were sailing, a HUGE storm came upon them. Everyone on board is terrified, thinking that they will die! Then we see that Jesus has been asleep, and the disciples went to wake Him up, 'cause they were scared.

Matthew 8:26
And He said to them, "Why are you afraid, O of little faith?" Then He rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.

Jesus is telling His disciples that they should not be scared, for He was with them. He would protect them. Sometimes we need to be reminded that Jesus has control over everything, and that He will bring us out of any storm that life brings us, as long as we have faith in Him. He is so powerful that He can get us through anything. The disciples should have never doubted the power of Jesus Christ.

scripture saturday - honor.

Welcome to {growing up grace}'s FIRST EVER Scripture on Saturday!

Today I'm going to be talking about honor.

Honor. It seems everyone wants part of it. If Mom comes in and says, “The living room looks so clean!”, you are bound to hear a “I cleaned it!” from somebody, and then you see them standing there, waiting for praise, and then mom looking at the bookshelves, they are dusted! The toys that were there earlier are now gone! The child smiles, thinking, I totally deserve this praise and honor.

After an athlete has finished a race, and everyone is cheering. He looks around for familiar faces that must be smiling, for they are lucky that they became friends before he found his athletic abilities, otherwise he would have never bothered to even talk to them. He looks at the crowd, I am worthy of this honor.

Proverbs 15:33 says, “...humility comes before honor.” One must come to know the LORD, and pray that He would make them humble, before even considering hearing the slightest bit of honor, maybe a “Great job!” from a friend, or even a smile from a parent. However, you cannot show off all the work that you have done, that is not humble at all. Think about it; if you get into a very clean car, and you are admiring it’s “freshness”, would you want to listen to the driver brag about how much time he put into it? Would you want to hear about everything he did for the car?

Romans 13:7 says “...honor to whom honor is due.” Like I pointed out above, you will only get honor after working hard. Also, honor other people if you have seen them doing something honorable. 1st Peter 2:17 says “Honor everyone...” That must mean honor everyone (I read between the lines).

Don’t expect honor, do all work that you can, and honor people when you see that you can.

Want to guest post about something biblical for Scripture on Saturday? Have an idea for a topic? Email me at gracygirlblog@gmail.com!

a real post.

I have wanted to do a "real" post lately.

You know, the kind that is long and there isn't a gap between each sentence.

Oh.

I'm doing that right now.

Onto my Real Post:

I have always been SUPER girly. I wanted to start wearing makeup when I was five. At age ten I was buying my own clothes (with Mom's money, of course. Let's say choosing my own clothes). So, about a month before my twelfth birthday, I asked my Mom the question that Mom's really don't like hearing.

"MOM! Can I wear mascara, eye liner, blush, lipstick, eye shadow..."

The list went on and on and on.

So, my Mom and I came to an agreement. When I turned twelve, I could wear mascara and lipstick whenever I wanted to (I was already wearing lipstick...but I had to ask first. So, about twice a month I would put it on). I WAS SO EXCITED!

So, now, being 12 years and three months, I wear mascara and lipstick.

Every. Single. Day.

If I do forget, I refuse to go somewhere beyond the front door. Even if I know I would be cooped inside all day, I put it on.

It's become embarrassing to not wear makeup. I have that feeling that I won't be "pretty enough."

Who is more beautiful?

The girl wearing no makeup with a huge smile across her face, or the girl with loads of makeup and a snobby attitude?

Now, wearing makeup isn't wrong, we, er, I, need to control the whole makeup idea.

If I'm letting God's light shine through me, makeup doesn't make a difference.

remember the christ in christmas.

I recently went to a women's ministry fellowship-y thing at a church about twenty minutes away from my house. This is what one of the women said about the Christmas season:

"Sometimes we forget the Christ in Christmas. People have even started saying Xmas to replace Christ.

They don't want to be offensive, so they say that the 'X' looks like a cross. So why don't we call it T-mas? A 'T' looks so much more like a cross than any old 'X' does.

Some other people who don't want to be offensive are saying 'Happy Holidays!' instead of 'Merry Christmas!' What they don't know is that Holiday used to be pronounced Holy-day."

I enjoyed listening to this, and I hope we all remember this this T-mas, I mean Christmas, season!

our society.

i found this one day while browsing tumblr:

and as sad as it is, it's true. unless you have a face like kim kardashian and the body of a victoria's secret model, you're thrown into the pile of 'wannabe, but you'll never be.' and it hurts. how can they decide what we're supposed to like and not like? how can they decide who's beautiful and who's not? how dare they?

even the boys do the same thing. they only want the girls who would give anything to be with them. and sometimes the girl is the accessory, not the priority. it's because of the girlfriend that they get all the attention, and then they leave her because she's weighing down his reputation. she was always putty in his hands, but couldn't he see that maybe she had feelings, too?

who do you think you are? telling us we're not pretty enough and not tall enough and not rich enough? it's almost like there's a bar. a bar that holds your standards. and once we get close to reaching the height, you raise the bar again. like an endless staircase. the top is so far away that we'd be dead before we found ourselves worthy of you. and quite frankly, i'm tired of it.

dear society, you're the reason countless numbers of girls worry their parents because they're not hungry anymore. they try and try to become skinnier. to have the perfect blonde color or the perfect brunette. their skin to be perfectly tanned. and it's all for you. you influence the world with your rules and regulations and as if it's not enough you flaunt your flawless skin in our acne-filled faces and laugh at us. why? because we can never be like you. it's just too hard. some of us even commit suicide because we're so dedicated to being perfect. but we saw that it wouldn't work. so we decided to end it before any other trouble was caused.

dear boys, you're the reason we just can't seem to stop crying. we genuinely like you, and yet you throw us aside like you're that embarrassing picture your mom just couldn't help but take out. we throw up so we can have that perfect body for you. and you act like i'm not even here.

who do you think you are, running around leaving scars. collecting your jar of hearts...

today it's time to take a stand. post something you hate about today's society, or about how boys treat girls.

we don't have to stand by and watch while our best friends bend over toilet seats throwing up what they just ate. we don't have to stick botox up our faces to have a face like heidi montage or miley cyrus. we are beautiful just the way we are. tell the world who the real star is. we are stars. in our own individual way. we don't have to be pushed aside to make room for the next up-and-coming model or actress or musician. because we're people too. let them know that.

dear society, and dear boys: make way for the genuine. you better watch out.

This was re-posted from The Cupcake Dictionary.

francesca battistelli.

Her songs are so amazing. I love them so much. These are two of my favorites:

Don't Miss It (Album: Hundred More Years)
Burn up the interstate
Got somewhere you need to be, you're
Not gonna let nobody slow you down
Turn off the radio and
Turn up your telephone
You don't have the time to smell the roses now

But take a second maybe
Before it gets too loud
Breathe before your breath runs out

(Chorus)
Don't try so hard
To move past the moment
These days go by
And they're gone before you know it
So come on, open your window
Let the light shine in
This is life don't miss it

What if you took the time
To really soak it in
'Cause someday you're gonna wish you did
Like a September morning
Like snow without a warning
Like how the summer feels upon your skin

Take a minute maybe
Before the sun goes down
Breathe before your breath runs out

(Chorus)
Don't try so hard
To move past the moment
These days go by
And they're gone before you know it
So come on, open your window
Let the light shine in
This is life don't miss it

Just take a second maybe
Before the sun goes down
Breathe before your breath runs out

(Chorus)
Don't try so hard
To move past the moment
These days go by
And they're gone before you know it
So come on, open your window
Let the light shine in
This is life don't miss it

I mean seriously, what preteen out there doesn't want to grow up fast? I know I do sometimes. I'm pretty sure Francesca had spies watching me while she wrote this song ;)



Hundred More Years (Album: Hundred More Years)
A diamond ring and twelve red roses
Everything she ever wanted
All those dreams and now they're finally here
She's so young and he's so perfect
They waited for love and it was worth it
She wants to feel like this for a hundred years

All this life still yet to live and they can hardly wait
They can laugh
They can cry
The future looks so beautiful and bright
They can dance under the moonlight
'Cause God is smilin' down on them tonight
And she wants to stay right here
Make it last for a hundred more years

She's got blue eyes just like her mother
Three years old, he's crazy for her
He wants to freeze this day before it dissapears
She's spinnin' like a little princess
Makin' sure he's gonna notice
He could watch her twirl for a hundred years

She'll grow up and she'll leave home but until that day
They can laugh
They can cry
The future looks so beautiful and bright
They can dance under the moonlight
'Cause God is smilin' down on them tonight
And he wants to stay right here
Make it last for a hundred more years

And its only time
But it flies right by
And today is sweeter than we know

And so they dance under the moonlight
While God is smilin' down on them tonight
And they want to stay right here
For a hundred more years

Francesca sang this song with her baby boy and husband at the concert. She got a little emotional, and I thought she was going to start crying. She didn't; but know every time I hear this song I cry (last time I heard this song and cried? Five minutes ago.)

Francesca Battistelli is awesome, and her music really speaks to me. God is using her in an amazing way.

prayer.

A concept I sometimes can't understand is prayer.

Yeah. Prayer.

You might be thinking, "Grace, get real. You pray before you eat, and before you go to bed. It's talking to God. We tell Him that we are thankful, or give Him a few requests. What don't you get?"

The Bible tells us to pray. But if God knows everything, why do we need to tell Him what we are thankful for or what we need? My Dad's cousin's wife is in the hospital with cancer. We pray for her every night. I have a really good friend who's parents are going through a divorce. When she texts me, I send up a prayer to God. But if God knows what they are going through and that they need help, why do we have to tell Him? If he knows, he can help them Himself, right?

Prayer brings us closer to God. A few years ago, my best friend went through something really tough. Last year, she told me. I already knew, but it brought us closer together.

When we talk to God, it brings us and God closer together.

Once, one of my church elders woke up in the middle of the night. He was wide awake. He woke up his wife and said, "I think we should pray for our son."
They didn't know why they were praying, but they kept praying for their son until about nine in the morning. Then they got a call. Their son had been in a horrible car accident, but he was not harmed at all.

My church elder was so close to God that he was able to hear Him, and wake up to...

To do what?

Pray.

This picture was not taken by me. It was found on Google.

i want to be.

This is what I hear a lot of people say. I say it myself.

"I want to be a singer or actress, just like Hannah Montana or Taylor Swift!"
"I want to be a famous book author, just like Beverly Cleary!"
"I want to be a comedian, just like Tim Hawkins!"
"I want to graduate college when I am fifteen! That would be cool!"
I have even heard, "I wish I were a cat."

WHY?!

God placed all of us were He wants us placed. God didn't want me to be Justin Bieber (thank goodness!!!), He wanted me to be Grace. So I'll do my best to be Grace.

I have laid awake at night before, telling myself, "Why won't mom let me move to Hollywood and just let me star in Disney's next film?"

Because God doesn't want me to star in Disney's next film.

What I've found has helped me is to list all of my blessings and count how many there are. I am very privileged to be Grace instead of Selena Gomez or Rebecca Black (by the way, Rebecca Black does not posses the blessing of writing good songs).

And I am going to continue to be Grace... just where God placed me.

faith.

This month I have chose to write a story from the bible. I have posted a bible verse and topic and will talk about it. The topic is: Faith. Now I'm not talking about just any faith- not my sister's name. I mean faith in the Lord. This verse is from Mathew 8:10b:

Truly I say to you, I have not seen such great faith, no, not in all of Isreal.

This is Jesus talking here. Pay attention. He is the Son of God. Here is the whole story:



Jesus was walking to a place called Capernuam. A rich man came up to him and said, "Lord, my servent is very ill. But you are so great, you can not come to my house. You are too worthy! But, I know, that with just one word, you may heal my loved servent." Jesus was suprised at this. This was no Isrealite. He was not a Jew, etheir. He said, "You have great faith; even greater than the peaople of Isreal." This man must have been pleased as well as shocked at the same time. Then, Jesus said somthing again,"Go," Jesus said, "Go to your home, in peace as your faith is. Your servent will be well." And the servent was made well in that hour.