Anger Management

I didn't know that I could be so mad at a group of people in all my life. Just a few days ago, what at this time seems like the beginning of the end of America as we know it was passed by our government. I'm not even going to go into everything that I think is morally and constitutionally wrong about this healthcare bill-made-law, but I am going to delve into my reaction to the news in order to make my point... Well, I was filled with what I considered "righteous" anger. So much so that that I thought my chest might burst with because of the rage inside of me. I lashed out at the T.V. and all of the turncoat "conservative" democrats that voted to let the bill pass. But then bam! God hit me with a Bible verse that I had read earlier. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His plan." Romans 8:28 I was comforted by these words because they mean that God is in control and that no matter how bad things seem now He will work them out for my good (even if good isn't good by worldly standards.) After rereading the verse I decided to let go of my anger, but I knew that I couldn't do it by myself. So, I prayed and asked God to take the anger and the hatred from my heart and to through it out. You would not believe the imediate relief that I felt! To be clicé it was like a weight had been lifted off of me. It is always best to go to God first and to hand over worries, problems, questions, and runaway emotions to God first.

Neglect and a New Direction

So, as you might have noticed I've been neglecting my blog, but it's not just that, I've been neglecting a gift God gave me. A while back God pointed out to me that writing was one of my strong points and I really believe that He had been sharpening my ability when pride got in the way of me using a gift for God's glory. I started a blog with zero expectations. I thought that just family and friends would read it and that thought was some what freeing. I could write whatever and expect only praise and constructive criticism, but then the stat counter I had installed started to show that a lot of people from all over were Reading my blog. That planted a seed of pride in my heart. I would write a post and instead of thanking God for the skill and words He had given me I would read it and pat myself on the back. Eventually my pride led to selfcontiousness and my blog began to lose the transparency I had loved and my words sounded hollow and "preachy" even
to me. All of this ended with my not writing anything at all. Now I am rededicating my gifts to God's glory. Because of this rededication I am not going to restrict the blog by only making certain kinds of posts. I'm going back to the basics and the genuine writing style that I used to have. I also feel called to make a commitment to write something every day (even though I'm not sure how much of it I'll post) because it's like a wise person recently told me, "Gifts are like muscles, if you don't use 'em you lose 'em."

Gardening

It's that time of year again! It's time to start gardening! Right now is the stage between the changing seasons... It's after the coldest, shortest days of winter, but before the warming, blooming days of spring. Yesterday I bought some seeds for my herb and flower gardens and today I planted the first seeds! I stated the planting process by pulling weeds and stones from one of our garden boxes. This task was more difficult than I had first thought it would be. It was cold outside and I had no gloves so by the time I was half way through my fingers were numb and covered in dirt. Once I had cleared my enemies (the weeds) from the battle field (the garden box) I went inside to thaw my fingers. After warming up I dug shallow little rows, placed the tiny poppy seeds carefully, gently covered them with dirt, and then covered them with straw to keep the rain from washing the seeds away. The work has just begun. I'll have to thin out the plants once they sprout and I'll have to keep the weeds at bay. Gardening today reminded me of our relationship with Jesus. It reminded me of how we have to prepare our hearts by pulling the sin from our lives, how we have to read God's word daily and bury it in our hearts, and how we have to continually weed out the sin in our lives so that we will bloom and make God's name famous.

Dreams

Recently I have been having unusually vivid dreams... The fact that they are so realistic isn't all that strange it's the fact that I am remembering them well after I wake up that's weird. In the first dream I was running a marathon and suddenly all of the racers had to come to a halt because a bridge was broken in half. The bridge appeared to have a river of water rushing over the broken part and people were up on the bridge catching alligators like normal people would catch fish. Then I was sitting in front of a Target and I was texting my friend C.H. there was a group of runners that I knew and we were all waiting for C.H. and as we are waiting we begin to realize that none of us have ever met C.H. in person. I then get a text saying that C.H. is in the museum of natural history which is just down the street. We go to look for him and I remember looking at all the displays. C.H. had told us to especially be sure to look at a certain type of duck. We get there and he's no longer there. He texts me and says that he went ahead to the Target. So we all rush back there and I am about to see him when *poof* I wake up! The second dream was so real and I remembered it in such detail that I was on the phone with my best friend and I asked her about her new kitten only to realize that she had only gotten a kitten in my dream! Isn't that strange? Even though I now know that it was only a dream I remember Kristin telling me that she had gotten a new kitten and I was so mad her for not getting it from me. While I was on the phone with her I was thinking that since wasn't mad anymore I would be nice and ask her how her new kitten was doing. She said, "What kitten? Beth, I don't have a kitten." At that moment I knew that it had all been a dream.
Have you ever had dreams that were so real that you had to stop and think about whether or not that had actually happened?

Happy New Year!

Can you believe that it's 2010 already? I am amazed that the year whent by so quickly! I quietly brought in the new year with my family. We had comfort foods, played ping-pong, watched Bringing Up Bobby, and we simultaneously watched the Peach in Georgia and the Ball in New York fall.
My 4 goals for the year are:
1)To have a healthier life style
2)To have a dailing quiet time
3)To spend more time in prayer
4)To live a life of love, compassion, and mercy
I plan on keeping these and I would love to know what your resolutions are for 2010! One of things that I have to look forward to this year is turning 15 and getting my learner's permit.
Letters From Beth is also in for some changes this year including a make over, possibly a web address change, new book reviews and give aways, and much more!
Happy New Year!
~Beth

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

As Christmas day approaches it's easy to get caught up in shopping, decorating, etc. It's also easy to forget about the true meaning behind Christmas. I know that I am just as guilty of staying busy all through the season as anybody else. I make a wish list, buy presents, decorate the tree, attend Christmas parties, and I start to focus on the material part of it. But presents and parties are what man has added to this day. The real meaning of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We have to realize that the gifts we give can never amount to the gift that Jesus already gave to us; eternal life with our creator, God, by offering His life. So, as the season progresses I encourage you to put down the presents, sit back and reflect upon what Jesus did for you and to read the account of his birth that you can find in the Bible.

Good Books

There are many sayings concerning books including "Don't judge a book by its cover.", "Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book.", "A good book has no ending.", and "The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it." While these quotes tell us some about good books they don't help you know how to find one. Well, I know from experience that a good book is hard to find. There are millions of books. There are classics and new best sellers. But how do you know which book will make a good read? I know that I read books based on suggestions or reviews so I have decided to compile my own little list of favorites. I hope that you'll decide to pick one up, read it and enjoy it.

Classics:
A classic book is an older book that despite its age hasn't lost any of its meaning. Here are a few classics I recommend.
*The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien. Not only are these books filled with magic, mystery and adventure but they are backed with a Christian allegory telling of the struggles of a Christian with temptation and sin. Tolkien is also accredited with basically creating the whole Sci-Fi genre.
*Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
*Call of the Wild by Jack London
*The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

Modern Greats:
A modern great is a book that I believe will one day be a classic but is too recent to be.
*The Circle Series (Green, Black, Red, White) by Ted Dekker. The Circle series about a young man named Thomas. You follow Thomas from our planet to "Other Earth" and back. It's a tale of love and forgiveness that is filled with action and power. You could begin the series as I did and read the books in the order they were written in (Black, Red, White, Green) or you could start with book Zero and read the books in the order the author now intends them to be read in (Green, Black, Red, White). You decide because these books truly do form a circle.
*The Oath by Frank E. Peretti
*The Noticer by Andy Andrews
*A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller

Miscellaneous:
Any other good books I could think of.
*The Paradise Novels (Showdown, Saint, Sinner) by Ted Dekker
*This Present Darkness by Frank E. Peretti
*The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
*Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
*Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
*Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
*The Phantom Stallion series (24 books) by Terri Farley
*The Summer Hill Secrets series by Beverly Lewis
*The Left Behind series by Tim LaHay and Jerry B. Jenkins

Giving Thanks

With the holidays kicking off tomorrow I thought this post would be appropriate. Seeing as Thanksgiving is tomorrow I would like to share a few of the things that I'm thankful for. I'm thankful for my savior, Jesus, who died for me. I'm thankful that I live in a free country where I'm free to worship God. I'm thankful for my family and friends whom I love and who love me. I'm thankful for where I live and that I have a home and food to eat. I'm thankful for a good many things and this lists just a few of those things. I think that our thankfulness shouldn't stop or start with Thanksgiving. But rather we should be thankful every day of the year. We really have been given alot. just think about it... If you're reading this you have a computer or at least access to a computer. So there's a start for your thankful list. So, be thankful, have a happy Thanksgiving, etcetera.

New People and Friends

I know just how hard it can be to make new friends. Everyone tends to gravitate toward who they know, myself included. As a shy kind of person I find it difficult to thrust myself into a group of new people, so I tend to stay on the fringes of a crowd and observe.

For example, I'm at a bit of a disadvantage with youth at church. A lot of the people in my youth group know each other from school. Everyone is friendly, but when the "greeting time" is over people go sit with others that they know. I do that, too. And most of the time that works okay. But sometimes the two people that I know are not there and I find myself sitting alone or beside one of the adult leaders. When this happens I think, "I really wish that someone would invite me to sit with them."

I admit that I'm a part of the problem. I'm shy. So, instead of meeting new people I'm stickin' with my friends. We should follow Jesus' example and love the "insiders" and the "outsiders". We should be focusing on Christ and living our ways according to His plan. And because the two greatest commandments both involve love (loving God first and your neighbors second) I believe that that it what I should be doing. Because I know how hard it is for me to include myself in someone else's conversation and how hard it is to find someone to sit with. When I see the "new kid" walk in I should invite them to sit with me and include them in my conversation. I'm going to try to do this. How about you?

Green by Ted Dekker

Do you know what over a million people, including myself, have been waiting for? Green-- The beginning and the end of the famed Circle Series by Ted Dekker. With high expectations, I began reading. As with the other Circle books I was on the edge of my seat from the start. Ted Dekker's writing style really brought the characters alive in my mind. Green is the birth and fulfillment of a great story that spans two realities about love, forgiveness, redemption, second chances, war, peace, Elyon, and a man named Thomas Hunter. With all of its twists and turns I'm sure that You'll be reading late into the night like I was.