Hello, everyone! My name is Natalie and I am a fifteen-year-old girl who loves Jesus! I talk about multiple different topics on this blog, but they all are about living a Godly life as a teen girl! If you would like to contact me, you can email me at godlygirlblog2@gmail.com, I would love to give you advice if you need or just hear from you! Until then, I will be praying for all you beautiful people!<3
Hello, everyone! My name is Natalie and I am a fifteen-year-old girl who loves Jesus! I talk about multiple different topics on this blog, but they all are about living a Godly life as a teen girl! If you would like to contact me, you can email me at godlygirlblog2@gmail.com, I would love to give you advice if you need or just hear from you! Until then, I will be praying for all you beautiful people!<3
Lately, my family has had a lot of change. Not small change, big changes. It’s been hard.
Maybe you’re going through big changes or you’ve experienced the difficulty of change.
I’ve never been through changes this big. One of my sisters just graduated and will be moving out soon, another one of my sisters is moving across the US, and through that, my life’s been changing. I started a job and I’m growing into new possibilities.
So far, I’ve learned change is emotionally and physically exhausting.
It’s also inevitable.
No matter what you do, you can’t stop it.
For people who don’t like change, it’s even harder. You just want things to always stay the same. I am one of those people, I like my routine and I don’t like when it changes.
Another thing I’ve learned through this change is God is near to you during it all. When everything around us is changing, God isn’t.
There are multiple places in the Bible proving that God doesn’t change:
James 1:17: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like the shifting shadows.”
Malachi 3:6: “I the Lord do not change…”
God is with you through every change in your life, every new chapter, and He doesn’t change at all during it. He’s still the same loving God He’s always been. He hasn’t changed yet, and He never will.
Hey, ya’ll! Today, I’m gonna give you song suggestions to help with body image. I’m one of those people who has songs for everything I’m feeling and music helps me through every stage of life. I’ll give you some songs that have helped me and after that, I’ll tell you the three songs I have been playing non-stop lately!
Body Image Songs:
Beauty In Me -Grace Korak
Photoshop -Leanna Crawford
Somebody Tell That Girl -High Valley (Featuring Anne Wilson)
Beautiful Things -Megan Moroney
Beautiful -MercyMe
Only One and Only You -Steven Curtis Chapman
Scars to Your Beautiful -Alessia Cara
Hey Girl -Anne Wilson
Unusual -Francesca Battistelli
Crazy Beautiful You -Leanna Crawford
Work In Progress -Leanna Crawford
You Are More -Tenth Avenue North
Love Who I Am -Allison Eide
Mirror -LO Worship and Sadie Robertson (Featuring Mitch Wong)
The Truth -Megan Woods
You Say -Lauren Daigle
Gold -Britt Nicole
Songs I’m Constantly Listening To…
Jesus Glow -Abe Parker
Thank God -Leanna Crawford
Brought Me This Far -Tate Butts
For this week, I want you to listen to these songs and let the words wash over you. Let God’s words wash over you. I’ll be praying for you and I hope you have a good two weeks! ❤
Welcome to part three of the Armor of God series! If you haven’t yet, I encourage you to check out part one and part two of the series so you can get all the info about the Armor!
Today, we’re going to be going over prayer and a little hidden hint in the armor!
Prayer (Ephesians 6:18)
Most people don’t realize how important prayer is in your life. They just think it’s something you do when you need something.
It’s way more than that, though.
Prayer is how you stay connected to God.
And right here in Ephesians it says we must pray during every occasion. Meaning, when life is hitting hard, pray; and when life is going good, pray.
It’s so important to get things out. God already knows it, but He wants you to tell Him.
Don’t just pray for yourself, though. Pray for others, too. Friends, family, people you know, they could be fighting something huge and not telling you. You never know when someone needs prayer.
Also, make a prayer list. It helps you remember who and what to pray for. And when you tell someone you’re praying for them, actually do it.
So many people say that, but then they don’t pray.
Remember to pray. During good and bad times, because you need God through it all.
Pray.
It’s written in the Bible about 650 times
It changes things.
Hidden Hint
Okay, this is my favorite part of the Armor of God. Throughout the whole Bible, we see little hidden facts and the Armor has one of them.
In all of Ephesians 6, going through the Armor, we see nothing about back protection. I mean, Roman soldiers needed something on their back. I don’t know what they used, but as Heaven’s soldiers, we have God as our back protection.
(Every time I think of that, I get Forrest Franks song “God’s Got My Back” stuck in my head.)
Anyway, not only is that a reason for no back protection, but there’s another reason: We’re not meant to turn our backs on our battles. We’re to face them head on!
So, as you fight battles, remember to face them head on and trust that God’s got your back!
Conclusion
Well, that concludes our Armor of God series, let me know what you thought of it and I’ll see you in two weeks! For those two weeks, I want you to choose one person–not yourself–and pray for them everyday without telling them. Just pray different things for them. Safety, well-being, trust in God. Anything you feel called to pray for. And do it for two weeks. ❤
"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful." -Colossians 4:2
Hello, everyone and welcome to part two of our Armor of God study! If you missed part one, I encourage you to go back and check it so you can get all the Armor of God info!
This week we’re going over the Shield of Faith, the Helmet of Salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit!
The Shield of Faith (Ephesians 6:16)
The Shield of Faith has so much to it, I don’t even know where to start.
I guess I’ll start by explaining what it means to “take up our shield of faith”. It means to actively exercise your faith. So, work on growing it day and night.
Faith isn’t just believing what God says is true, it’s acting on it.
Don’t just proclaim God, but live like God.
In the information about the shield, it mentions flaming arrows. In battle, flaming arrows were used as a distractions. They started fires, causing the soldiers to focus on those instead of the threats in front of them.
Like the flaming arrows. Satan distracts us. He distracts us with fear, but we put up our faith.
He sends flaming arrows–fear–so we lose focus–faith.
But, like a soldier could use their shield to extinguish flaming arrows, use your faith to extinguish any fears.
The Helmet of Salvation (Ephesians 6:17a)
Salvation is being free from guilt of sin.
Satan will come after your mind, he’ll bring up past sins you’ve done and make you feel guilty.
But, if you live in salvation it won’t affect you.
Apply salvation in your lifer. Live as someone who knows they’re sinners, but instead of feeling guilty, remember you’re forgiven.
Your past sins? When you ask God for forgiveness, He forgives and forgets.
Salvation is freeing. Knowing you’re free from guilt and shame is freeing.
This represented as a helmet because Satan is after your mind. He tricks you into believing you’re far from salvation and your past cannot be forgiven.
Don’t believe it, we’re all worthy of forgiveness!
The Sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17b)
The Sword of Spirit is the only armor used to fight, not protect.
It’s the Word of God.
And you use it to fight.
The sword soldiers used was a dagger-like, smaller sword used for hand-to-hand fighting.
So, when the soldiers enemy was right in their face, they’d go for the sword.
That’s what you do.
When the enemy is right in your face, you grab your Bible and you use it to fight.
The Bible is equipped with so much Scripture about fighting battles.
Just find them and use them.
Conclusion
So, these next two weeks, I encourage you to take up your Shield of Faith, put on your Helmet of Salvation, and fight with your Sword of the Spitrit!
My prayers and love are with ya’ll during these next weeks! ❤
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds." - 2 Corinthians 10:4
Welcome, everyone and happy Easter! Today is actually Good Friday as well, so I’ll explain both of them in this post!
Good Friday…
.
Good Friday is celebrated as the day Jesus was crucified.
Open you Bible to Matthew 26, as we study the crucifixion of our Lord.
The crucifixion was prophesied way before Jesus came to earth, it mentions it all the way in Genesis, but we won’t get into that.
Judas, one of Jesus’ disciples, is the one who betrayed Him. Plotting to kill Him behind His back, then acting like His bestie when actually with Him. But, Jesus, being Jesus, already knew this about Judas.
Reading the crucifixion of Jesus is one of the hardest things to do. Knowing he went through all that for us. He had you on His mind.
Notice, in verse 39, Jesus is having trouble trusting God. The perfect Son of God, was scared. Yet, He trusted.
Head to Matthew 27:27 in your Bible, the soldiers started by stripping Jesus of his clothes, then placed a crown of thorns on His head. These thorns weren’t like the thorns found on a rose bush, they were like 3-4 inches long. I doubt the soldiers gently laid the thorns on His head, they probably stuck the thorns in His head, placing the crown as far down as it could go.
Then, they hit him over and over on His head with a staff, while spitting and mocking Him.
Then, as if He hadn’t had enough, they made Him carry His own cross.Which probably weighed over 300 pounds.
When they hung Jesus on the cross, they put nails through His hands. Except it was actually His wrists. If they had done His hands, They’d just slip right out, so the wrists worked better.
As He hung, in pain, people mocked Him.
At three in the afternoon, Jesus sacrificed His soul.
All for us. We treat Him like dirt under our shoes, and He knew that, yet He went through all that for us.
A few hours later, a disciple wrapped Jesus in cloths, placing Him in a tomb.
Three Days Later… (Matthew 28)
Everyone had lost hope. If Jesus couldn’t save Himself, how will they get saved.
But, three days later, when Mary Magdeline and Mary went to look at the tomb, it was empty.
Jesus had risen.
But it was time for Him to go to Heaven.
He gave one final command before leaving. He told us to spread the Gospel.
He also promised He’d be with you.
So, today remember and suffering Jesus went through for you.
But, don’t stop there, Remember what came next. The moment Jesus came back, bringing hope with Him.
Even though His physical self left, Jesus left His spiritual self. The Holy Spirit.
And he’s sitting right with you.
I hope you all have a blessed Easter and I will keep you in my prayers!❤️
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." -Matthew 28:19-20
Hello, everyone! Welcome, whether you’ve been here before or you just found me!
As you can see, I will be talking about the Armor of God this week and the weeks to come.
This week we’ll cover the Belt of Truth, Breastplate of Righteousness, and the Shoes of Peace.
Years ago, I did a Armor of God study by Priscilla Shirer. So, I looked through the book and got some ideas.
The Belt of Truth (Ephesians 6:14a)
The Belt of Truth is a very important piece of armor. It holds everything together. If a Roman soldier didn’t have their belt, they wouldn’t be able to stand firm, ready for battle.
Just like the belt holds everything together, so does knowing the truth. If you fall for that lie that you’re not good enough or you’re not smart enough, whatever the lie, if you start believing it, that’s only the beginning of lies.
In John 8:44, Satan is called “The Father of Lies”. That’s how it all started. He deceived Eve in the garden, telling her a lie that messed up all of humanity to come.
If you are not planted in truth, you’ll be too weak to stand firm, ready for battle.
Find your truth and stand firm in it.
The Breastplate of Righteousness (Ephesians 6:14b)
The breastplate on a Roman soldiers armor, was carried by the belt. Meaning, to have righteousness you must have truth.
I looked up the definition of righteousness, because I wasn’t 100% sure what it meant. The results I found said righteousness means to live a life of God’s expectations of you. So, devote yourself to the Lord and live the way He’s called you to live.
To be righteous you have to know the truth of what or who you believe in. So, to be righteous to God, you have to know the truth about Him.
Another interesting thing about the breastplate is it protects your most vital organ–your heart.
Living in righteousness with God, will protect your heart. You still get hit and it’s painful, but your heart is protected.
The Shoes of Peace (Ephesians 6:15)
Peace is something I struggle with. It’s hard to find. But the Enemy LOVES it when we don’t have peace. Being without peace, leaves us vulnerable, because without peace you’ll do whatever you can to relax. Even if it’s something you shouldn’t be doing.
The shoes Roman soldiers wore, had hobnails–steel posts–sticking out of the bottom of the shoe. Those helped them stand firm on whatever terrain they were on.
That’s what peace does, it helps you stand firm in whatever place you’re in.
If you don’t have peace, ask God. He can give it to you. After all, He is the Prince of Peace.
Another one of the reasons the shoes represent peace is because peace helps you move forward. If you don’t have a Godly peace with something, you won’t move, but if you do, you’ll end up at wonderful places you never imagined.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed part one of the Armor of God! Next time I’ll cover the Shield of Faith, the Helmet of Salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit. See you then! ❤
"Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes,you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." -Ephesians 6:13
You know that aching feeling you get in your heart and you think, “I have no one”? Sometimes you feel it when you’re sitting in a room full of people you love.
You just feel so alone.
But you have people around you all the time.
This is loneliness and it can tear you apart.
I’ve spent the past 3 years struggling on and off with it. I would wake up and think, “would anyone notice if I just stayed in bed all day?” It caused me to pull away from people. I didn’t want to do anything with anyone. But I ended up doing something that, I didn’t know it then, would change my life.
What Do I Do?
Loneliness is so hard to overcome. At the time of this writing, I still struggle with it. But, not as bad as it used to be. Here’s what I did/do:
I started praying. For the first little bit, I didn’t feel anything. I didn’t think anything was going to happen. But, I continued to do it. Overtime I started feeling God there as I prayed (sometimes I imagine God sitting next to me, listening to my prayers).
I also read my Bible. You can do it however you want. If you’re intimidated by the Bible, get a devotional about studying the Bible. Whatever you’re comfortable with.
The next thing I did, was definitely the hardest–and still is–and you probably won’t want to do it: Force yourself to socialize (a introverts nightmare). It truly does help. I do that when I’ve had a lonely week and by the end of the day, I feel so much better.
Don’t push people away. It doesn’t help. Welcome them in. It’s so tempting to just give up on every relationship you have, but don’t.
Humans were created to have friends. God made Adam, then saw that Adam needed someone else, Eve.
Jesus had friends, too. He didn’t do everything alone. The disciples did a lot with Him.
But, Jesus would go to be alone and pray.
Challenge for Your Weeks
For the next 2 weeks, I encourage you to do the things above.
Pray–even when you can’t feel anything
Read your Bible in whatever way you want
Force yourself to socialize
Remember it’s not bad to feel lonely–as long as you don’t stay in your loneliness
I will be praying for ya’ll and I hope you have a next 2 weeks! Love you all! ❤
"Two are better than one...If either of them falls down, one can help the other up." -Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
As I was thinking of what to do for my blog post this week, I was coming up empty. I had no idea what to do.
As I was thinking about this, I was cleaning the bathroom I share with my 3 sisters. As you can imagine, it gets pretty dirty. I’ve been cleaning it for as long as I can remember, but I usually just do a quick scrub.
This week, I really cleaned. I organized cupboards, wiped our lotions — which we have a lot of — and really scrubbed the toilet.
I kept thinking to myself, “If I were to stay on top of it, this wouldn’t be so disgusting.”
Then, I realized, just as we clean our bathrooms, bedrooms, etc regularly, we need to clean our hearts.
It requires work. You have to search your heart daily for the thinks dirtying it up. If your heart dirty, then let it sit there for too long, the harder it will be to clean.
If you clean your heart your daily, then it won’t get dirty. But, you don’t have to do it alone. If you have something stained on your heart and you feel like there is no coming back, just remember you have the best Stain Remover ever.
God can remove even the biggest stains. Anger, hurt, and addiction that you can’t get rid of, whatever is staining your heart, God can remove.
Ask Him to search your heart and show you what stain needs to be cleaned. With His help, and a little hard work, you can get it cleaned.
So, I challenge you to search your heart and start working on getting it clean. But, stay on top of it! If you let it go too long, then it’s gonna get really dirty. Trust the Lord to clean you the way He sees best. I will be praying for all you girls during these next 2 weeks! I love ya’ll and hope you have a blessed 2 weeks!
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” -1 John 1:9
Hello and happy Valentine’s Day! I know Valentine’s Day isn’t for another week, but when I started thinking about what to write for this post, I felt the Holy Spirit telling me to talk about love.
When you hear the word love, you probably think of a boy and girl, staring into each others eyes, all cheesy like.
I’m here to tell you, love is so much more than that. Love doesn’t always involve a boy and girl and cheesy smiles. Love comes from everyone around you!
As Christians we are called to love those around us (John 13:34), we are called to love God, and we are called to love ourselves.
Loving others
To love others, you must put aside you. That means when you so badly want to do something to cause your neighbor pain, you don’t. You walk away and you breath.
When your parents ask you to do something after they already asked you to do 5 other things, you do it. You show your love for them by doing what they ask.
When your sibling gets something you wanted, you don’t try to take it from them, you rejoice with them! Even if you have to act like you’re fine, it shows them you love them and you’re happy for them.
You show people love and then you can go to God with the pain. But, don’t ask Him to change the circumstance, ask Him to change you and your heart in the circumstance.
Loving others doesn’t mean you have to agree with them. It just means that no matter what they believe or do, you show them the love and kindness Jesus showed you.
Loving others requires great sacrifice. 1 Corinthians 13 gives a great example of love. It says that “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs…Love never fails.”
So, this Valentine’s Day, just show love to those around you. Give up your seat for an older person, do something for your mom without her asking, the possibilities are endless.
And remember to spend your Valentine’s Day eating ice cream and praying for your future husband! Love ya’ll and hope you have a blessed two weeks! ❤
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 13:15
Welcome back, everyone! I hope you had a blessed two weeks and that the Holy Spirit was moving! This post is about modesty (as you can see) and I am so excited! This kinda goes along with body image. The clothes you wear help how you view yourself.
What is modesty?
Modesty is defined as “reserve or propriety in speech, dress, or behavior”. I’m gonna be honest, that doesn’t make sense to me at all. So, I looked up the definition for kids, “modesty means being humble and not showing off or bragging about yourself.” That makes more sense.
If you think about it, it’s not just about what you’re wearing. It’s also how you act.
When you beat someone in something, are you rubbing it in their face or being sincere about it?
The Bible defines modesty as “an outward expression of inward devotion, emphasizing humility and self-control in how we dress and behave.” Meaning, show Jesus to others.
Modesty in what we wear…
Wearing modest clothing can be really hard, especially knowing what’s okay and what’s not. Whenever I’m shopping for clothes, I always look in the mirror and ask myself, “If I were to wear this would people look at me and think that there’s something different about me, or would I look like all the other teenage girls?”
Here’s how to know the answer to that:
If you are wearing a dress, skirt, or shorts and you’re not sure it is a long enough length, bend over and if it doesn’t fully cover, or is just under, your bum, put it away. You can also do the fingertip test (put your arms straight down and if what you’re wearing goes further down than your fingertips reach, it’s fine.)
For shirts’ necklines, my mom taught me to put my hand about an inch under my collarbone and if the neckline doesn’t reach that, it’s too low. Always keep your bra strap hidden. I know everyone knows you’re a girl who wears a bra, but boys don’t just see the bra strap. I was reading a devotion about modesty and the woman who wrote said she asked teen boys what they see when a girls bra strap is showing. When a guy sees your bra strap, he follows where it leads. Whether you show your belly button or not, is your decision.
And if you’re wearing something you’re not comfortable in, get rid of it. Dressing cute doesn’t mean you have to be uncomfortable.
Why we dress modestly
I never understood why we need to dress modestly. I always thought it was just because it says so in the Bible. I found the reason in books I read.
In 1 Corinthians 1: 19-20 it says, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”
That means, are bodies are gifts from God and we need to honor them.
Your body is a gift and that gift shouldn’t be treated wrong. Treat your body as you would treat a gift from someone you’re really close to.
Challenge for your weeks
I challenge you in the next two weeks to go through your clothes and get rid of the clothes that don’t give Godly girl vibes. It’s going to be hard to see some really cute clothes leave your wardrobe, but it is so worth it.
I hope you all have a blessed two weeks and I’ll be praying for you! Love you all! ❤
