Being Trustworthy
Written by Vanessa P.
Thoughts are definitely one of the biggest struggles for us as girls, and I could write pages and pages on this topic. I'll just say that in most cases, when we think about things we shouldn't, it's not that the things in and of themselves are bad. God made us to be attracted to guys. And it's not wrong to notice that someone is physically attractive. However, allowing your mind to focus on that attraction for any length of time is not helpful. There will be a time, should the Lord give you a husband, when you can spend more time thinking about how handsome he is. :) But for now, we need to keep those thoughts in the background, reminding ourselves (as I do often), "That isn't what God has given me right now, and God knows exactly what's good for me and when it's good for me to have it."
Another area of struggle for me is laziness (which in my personal definition is "resistance to change"): I resist making changes that will actually make me work. Whatever my habit is right now is the easiest thing to do. But someday my husband will want me to make changes—will I be willing to stop being lazy then and work to make the changes he wants? And as you'll see, all the other areas I mention are affected by this: I need to be willing to do the work to change.
Then personal health: I gained over 30 pounds in college and hope to get about 20 of them off eventually. And I need to just work on being generally healthy, so that I will have the energy to fulfill my responsibilities. Someday each of us will need to keep herself attractive for her own husband. We can't be lazy now just because it's not hard to stay thin when we're young. We must try to make healthy habits now (exercise, good diet, etc) so that it won't be so hard after marriage. And college students: do what you can to keep a good diet and exercise. It gets harder if you don't make the right habits now.
Stewardship is another huge area for me: time, personal possessions, money, etc. God has loaned all of these things to me. I can choose to budget my time and money wisely to prepare for the future, or I can waste both on things that make me happy now. I can take good care of my car, room, clothes, etc., or I can leave them in a mess all the time. It will take sacrifice of time and money that I would like to use for myself, but to glorify God and to prepare for the rest of life; I must learn to be a good steward now. I am making habits now that I'll carry into the rest of my life.
Personal relationship with God must be a priority for each of us. The Lord has reminded me repeatedly that I can't really hope to have a marriage that glorifies Him and edifies my husband if I'm not willing to keep Him at the center of my life. And here is my biggest struggle with laziness: I know I need to make changes in my life so I can make time with God a priority. I know I need to be willing to read my Bible in the morning. But I've made it a habit to waste time in the morning and have devotions later. But it takes so much work to stop the bad habits and make new ones.
Have you seen a theme here—making the right habits? If each of us starts now to make right habits and get rid of wrong ones, we will all be prepared for the rest of life, whatever the Lord may have planned for us individually. Take time to decide what right habits you need to make and what wrong habits you need to stop, and claim the Lord's grace to make the changes that will glorify Him and better prepare you for the rest of life.
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This page was last modified on Thursday, September 02, 2010