Little Red Riding Hood (spoiler warning!)

I love movies. I love movies that keep you guessing until the end! This was one of those. However, my first guess of who the "BIG BAD WOLF" was ended up being correct! The writers did a good job of making you think it could have been any one of the main characters, even Granny.

After I pegged the dad to be the the wolf, the twists and turns kept bringing doubt. Maybe it was Peter, the handsome lover of Valerie. That would have been more true to life, spiritually. Satan, who seems lovely to the eye and disguises himself as an angel of light, does use his charm to try to woo us.

Or, at times it seemed to be Henry, the one Valerie had been arranged to marry.

But, in the end, it was her father. The evil one was among them the whole time, yet no one in the village suspected it. He sought revenge on his community because he felt betrayed by his wife, who's heart really belonged to another. Valerie's father wanted not to take her life, but in essence, to take her soul, making her like him. If she'd let him bite her, then she too could become like him. In the end, Peter came to her rescue, but not without consequence. He was bitten, and left her until he could learn to control the power within him.

As I was watching, I was reminded of a Ted Dekker book, Emmanuel's Veins. It's similar, but with much more of a spiritual application, only using vampires instead of werewolves.

Even so, I was reminded of the evil one that lurks around us. Sometimes he does come in the form of something that seems so beautiful and harmless. At other times, I think he is around us and we don't even realize it. Even though he cannot touch our souls, I know he is busy doing whatever he can to attack us, to distract us, to keep us from doing the opposite of what God would have us do. As Beth Moore said in a previous study, we can't choose to be in the war but we can choose if we're going to be a warrior or not.

So put on your red cloak, carrying the blood of the Lamb that now runs through our veins. You will walk thru the deep, dark woods; you will climb steep mountains. In the end, we will overcome by the blood of the Lamb. (Rev. 12:11)

"When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall." Psalms 27:2

The Date Debate

So, Presley and I were driving back from Olive Branch, listening to a little Taylor Swift. "Fifteen" came on, and she let me know she would be 15 in only 8 years (really, 7 but I'll take 8!) We weren't really debating could she date. Ryan Fontenot said once that if you were not responsible enough to keep your room clean, you weren't responsible enough to date. So, if that's the case, Presley probably won't be dating till she's 30.

Anyway, listening to Taylor got me to thinking- (I would have LOVED her if she'd been around when I was a teenager!)

The reason I would have liked her so much, is that I would have totally identified with her and most of her songs. As I was listening, I went back to when I was just fifteen, and would have probably cried myself to sleep listening to "White Horse." I wanted to be the princess and have the prince come in on the white horse. When I was 16, I thought he had, only to be left crying in the castle. Around 17, I might have been singing the one about either burning some pictures or telling him not to call after I'd figured out the lies. I could go on............

I remember making myself even more miserable after a 'break-up" by going and intentionally finding the love songs that would make me cry the hardest. I was a glutton for punishment! (Granted, I do love 80's music to this day, especially some Journey or Chicago!)

Of course I didn't realize it then, but now I see how low my self-esteem was and how much I thought I HAD to have a boyfriend to be something. At times, especially 8th-9th grade, it seemed all my friends did, but I felt like the ugly duckling, or ugly step-sister and would never find "wuv, twu wuv!"

Why I thought I needed to find true love at the age of 15, I don't know. Or even 16, 17 or 18.

I see so much of this in girls today. They are sometimes consumed with the idea of love, like I was. I don't think I really ever learned that I could be me, or who God would have wanted me to be without having all that drama. It sure wasn't necessary. Instead, it caused a lot of hurt and pain, mostly for me. Our high school principal, Mark Smith, use to tell us that we're just giving little pieces of our hearts away in dating around so much. I really didn't want to hear that, and remember one instance, refusing to. Even if you never give anything away physically, you still do damage emotionally.

So, I say all of this, to anyone who may be like I was. Save yourself in every way for the one God has for you for life. Give yourself instead, to HIM while you wait. He is the one who loves you more than you can possibly imagine.

I think I'll probably discourage Presley from listening to Taylor- and maybe we won't get to cleaning her room over spring break!

Further Still.........

So, it's been awhile, again. I should be doing school work or getting a head start on spring cleaning.....

I can't seem to get away from the past 3 weeks of our David Bible study. Guess that's a good thing, huh?

I'll start with last weeks, and maybe I'll eventually get around to the others!

Last week's video came after we'd just found out Jonathan died. (Jonathan as in David's friend, not anyone I know personally!!) I have to say, I was a little teary eyed after reading that passage. I mean, I knew it was coming- just an emotional week I guess!

Anyway- The video was about going Further still with God. Beth gave 5 ways to know if this season you are in is one where you are being called to go "further still?"

Here are those five ways:

1. Further still....when you are overwhelmed with sorrow.

2. Further still....when you desperately need to wrestle with the will of God.

3. Further still....when nobody else gets it.

4. Further still....when the most serious matters of your life need settling.

5. Further still....when life can't be the same but the pain can bring gain.

Can we go further still without having these prerequisites? I asked our group and they pretty much agreed that no, you couldn't. I could not help but apply each of these to our season with Pruitt. I felt each of these things. Especially #1, #2, and the first part of #5. Under point #1, she mentioned that the word for overwhelmed in Matt. 26:38 meant "grieved all around." "It suggests a sorrow so deep it almost kills."

Under #2, in struggling with the will of God, she talked about the fact that God does not say no lightly. The text was Jesus in the Garden of Gesthemene, and Jesus praying for the cup to pass. God's no to Jesus was salvation for us. When we ask to "let this cup pass from me" sometimes God's answer may be no. It was for us. I did not want to drink from that cup of suffering. But God said "No." Under #5, she mentioned that God does not do things on a whim-if there is such pain, then there is a greater "yes." Again, if no is the answer He has, then there is a greater reason for that, and ultimately a greater purpose, your purpose, my purpose, that would not be possible had that cup not been given to you, to me.

I know that had we not gone through the things we did, I would not have seen a working of God that I did. No, we did not get a miracle, at least not in the world's eyes. But, we did-we got time with our precious baby boy that doctor's said at first would never even happen. He did things they thought he would never do. The list goes on and on.............

The further still part? Well, like I said, I do think I went further still to a place in which there was no other way to get there. Sometimes, I even long to go back to that "place." No, not to the circumstances which caused the pain, or even to the pain, itself, but just to that holy, sovereign place with the Lord. It really is indescribable, unless you've been.

That's not to say that I always went "further still." I think we can be at any one of the five places mentioned above, and easily NOT go further. It is a choice we have. I always said I want to make the right choice with this, (even now), to glorify God in it, and in doing so, honor Pruitt's life. But I KNOW (because of those other 2 studies!!, for one reason!) that I have not always made that choice. There have been days I've been mad, asked "why me?", and let the sorrow overtake me. There have been times when I say "they DON'T understand" and I turn #3 into a pity party. There are times when I feel like the matters (#4) of my life have been settled, only to dig it back up again, and start over with the wrestling. I think it is an ongoing battle sometimes.

Either way, I have gone further still, and sometimes I've made the choice to stop in my tracks on the course God has for me.

I pray that more often than not, I will be found pressing on, running the race, and in the process, discover exactly what God's purpose is for me- even when life can never be the same as it once was.

Being Held,

Jenn