Be All Woman Blog

The following excerpt was taken from Contact with God by Jeanne Wilkerson.

It is important to never take this glorious gospel for granted! You may think that you will always have the bright light of God’s Word available to you, but darker days are coming. You can’t just sit in the seat of ease in Zion after you have been saved and filled with the Holy Spirit. You must maintain your spiritual life and keep yourself sharp in the Word. You must allow the same source that produced that life-the Holy Spirit-to sustain it.

The gospel can be compared to light. It is like the moving of the sun, which rises on one horizon, crosses the heavens, and sets in another horizon. While we have the sunlight, the gospel, it is day. But the Bible says the night is coming, and unless we continue to walk in the light, the darkness will overtake us (John 12:35).

According to Romans 15:19, Paul took the gospel to a place known as Illyricum. After he did, the churches and people were so blessed by the beautiful light of the glorious gospel that signs and wonders followed. Today that same region is known as Albania.

It is the place where Paul performed so many signs and wonders in the name of Jesus, and the glorious gospel was proclaimed with all of its beauty and power. Through Paul, the people of Albania saw the gospel manifested through powerful signs and wonders.

But notice the more recent history of this nation where so many miracles had been performed. Albania is the first nation in the world to declare herself totally atheistic. Today it is a communist nation, and most of the people are Muslims.

In 1967, after a fiery speech by Albania’s ruler, two thousand convents, monasteries, mosques, and churches were taken over to be put to use for “better purposes.” The ministers and priests were assigned to hard labor, and since 1967, the practice of Christianity has been totally forbidden. Bibles were collected and burned, and even the mere possession of a Bible warrants one’s being shot by a firing squad.

It is hard to believe this is the same place that once saw such mighty signs and wonders!

A broadcast from the capital city of Tarana reported that severe measures had to be taken to erase Christianity from the minds of the people-extreme measures such as sealing Christians in barrels and rolling them alive into the sea.

The bishop of Duress in Albania was enclosed in an iron cage the size of his body. Inside, the walls were covered with spikes that penetrated his flesh. He was then pushed along the streets until he died. The London Daily Telegraph reported that several priests had been shot by firing squads.

Children are placed in state nurseries from birth. Their parents are not allowed to have custody of them. They are given two hours visitation privileges daily to spend with the child, if both the child and mother desire it. Over half the population in Albania is under twenty-five years of age.

Less than five percent of its citizens are ever permitted to leave the country. Albania is the second smallest country in Europe, the size of Belgium. It is bordered by Yugoslavia, Greece, the Adriatic, and Ionion Seas. It is Europe’s most primitive, backward nation, though the Communist party’s chief objective is to create a “new man.”

This place that had actually witnessed the birth of the gospel and had seen the signs and wonders of our God within its borders is no longer walking in His blessings. Sadly, if in our own lives we don’t take advantage of God’s hour of visitation, as in the case of Albania, we will not always enjoy divine demonstrations from God.

Freedom is the most valuable commodity in the world. People who travel to the underprivileged nations of the world will often tell you what a privilege it is to enjoy religious freedom in America. For example, a friend of mine who traveled to preach at a church in a communist nation told me about the adversity he witnessed.

He said that the Christians in that country spend hours upon hours crying out to God to give them just a few hours of freedom to preach the gospel.
We can pray for people to be saved, but we must also be obedient to go and bring the gospel to the people.

In light of the vision Oral Roberts had in July of this year, this next portion is a vision that Kenneth Hagin Jr. had in 1985:
I’m sure you’ve seen, while driving in the dark, off in the distance, a mighty glow against the skyline-some large, metropolitan city, fanning its light against the night sky.

I began to see the world, I saw the glow as it came from the North American continent, out of the United States, this glow. I saw that it got brighter, and brighter, and brighter, and began to spread north, south, east, and west.

It spread until, as the globe turned, I could see it encompass islands of the sea, other countries, and the darkness was driven away, light began to encompass these countries. Even as the light came to some of them, they weren’t all black and dark, but sort of in twilight, but some were completely amassed in darkness, and this encroaching light would make them bright.

I said, “Lord, what is the meaning of all this?” it had encompassed the whole earth.

He said, “This is the last day revival that people have been talking about. It’s the new WAVE people have been talking about. This is the MOVE of the end time of the Holy Spirit. And it’s not just a revival that’s going to reach one nation, not a revival for a few ’spots’ around the world, as you saw what seemed like twilight in some of the countries, that was where there is something happening already.

“This revival will encompass the whole world. It will involve My people all over the world who are willing in this last day to be mature, and to do the job that I’ve called them to do. It’s not going to happen easily, as one would think, or that it seems that it does to others.”

I said, “What do you mean?”

He said, “It’s going to happen as My people begin to call on My Name, and ASK for the anointing and the power of God to move in the Church-not move on me individually; not move on our group; not move on our denomination; not move on the so-called “faith” people; or this people or that people. But as MY people fall on their faces and begin to pray, and say, ‘God, we want a revival-we don’t care whether it’s through us or someone else-we want a revival of the power of the Spirit of God!’”

“Then,” He said, “it’s going to happen. It’s already started, because the glow you began to see, not only in your country, but also in the other countries who were in twilight-that’s the people of God who are hungry for revival.”
Kenneth Hagin Jr. then delivered this prophetic word:
“Some will say, ‘I don’t know about this.’ Others will say, ‘Let’s watch!’ and they will be like the fifty prophets that watched Elisha.”

“But I say to you this night, if you will bow before Me in prayer and praise and will not be ashamed of the Holy Spirit and the demonstration of the power of God, I will lead you into the greatest anointing that you have ever known! And your churches will grow. And everything that you do will turn to victory!”

“And there will not be anything that can stand in your way and that can defeat you! But you will march arm in arm, running to tear the devil’s kingdom apart. And gathering souls from the harvest field as you run! Because the revival is now at hand!

“And it shall be poured out upon all of those that are willing to be God’s vessels, dedicated to the power of God and not be ashamed if somebody calls them this or that or something else. And not be ashamed to stand and demonstrate the power of God in the face of all odds that says, ‘It can’t happen!’”

God says, “I will be with you. I will anoint you and there will be a revival. I am only looking for vessels. Will you be that vessel?”

I encourage you to commune with our Father. The Word must be present in our lives, but it is the Word and the Spirit that fills us!

The power of prayer will come through in your worship to the Father. The words that we get from heaven will not only bless us, but they will bless others in our lives as well. Those Holy Gost inspiried words that come in worship and prayer are full of power because they are full of Him!

God is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. He is our everything!

The following prophecy was given by Kenneth E. Hagin on January 24, 1988
“For He is high, and He is holy and you cannot worship Him with man’s means. Yea, you dare not come into His presence in your own holiness of righteousness. Come into His presence clean and holy but thou canst not make thyself clean, neither can thou make thou self holy. For man alone is an utter failure. But you can come into His presence because His Blood cleanseth you from all sin. You can come into His presence because His Blood has atoned for your sins. You can come into His presence because His Blood has atoned for your sins and all are washed away. And you are made unto your God kings and priests. So, put on your robe of righteousness and enter into His presence with thanksgiving and allow the Holy Spirit, Who dwells in your spirit to teach you to be reverent.”

“Yea, come not with the clamorings of the flesh. There shall come a time, in fact the day has now arrived that you will learn to worship Me,” saith the Lord of Hosts, “on a different level in which you have worshiped. Even learn to praise Me on a different level in which you have learned to praise. For so much of that which has been in that manifestation among you has only been in the flesh. But now you will come into the broad place of the Spirit. Come with a reverence. Come with a humility. Come with a desire to fellowship with Me. Come not in arrogance. Come not in the energy of the flesh. But rather, come with a humble spirit. Crucifying the flesh. Not letting it dominate you or even endeavor to worship Me as such. But come in a spirit and oh that can only be as you respond unto the Holy Spirit.”

“For even in worship as the Father would have you to worship Him. For He is high and He is holy. And you come not unto Him as you would come unto man. And you give not Him applause as you would man. For you must not bring Him down on the level of man, but you must come up on the level where He is in holiness and reverence. Worshiping Him and Him alone. Worshiping Him and Him alone. Worshiping Him and Him alone.”

“And then shall the Spirit of God descend upon you like a mighty rain from heaven. Mighty rivers shall flow out of you and ye shall be known as a reverent worshipful people. And ye shall be known as a supernatural people. For the supernatural will be ordinary with you. And it shall be said of you as it was said of those days gone by, they that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.” Hallelujah!

The following excerpt is taken from What Guys see that girls Don’t, or do they? by Sharon Daugherty

Often young girls do not understand how they come across to guys. When you are young, you’ve not have enough experience in life to understand and see the need to avoid vulnerability. When a guy sees a girl showing off her figure with tight-fitting clothes, short skirts, blouses that show breast cleavage and pants that reveal her navel, he is thinking she wants him not only to look but alos to touch what he sees.

He sees a sign that says, “Come and get me”. Guys are turned on by sight s quick as you can flip on a light switch while girls are not programmed to be turned on as quickly, and they are as stimulated by sight. Girls can look at guys without shirts and not be fazed.

Sure they might admire some muscle, but they aren’t  sexually stimulated, however, when they know they have stimulated a guy and they experience even greater stimulation through touch.

A girl can think she’s safe as long as she doesn’t feel sexually stimulated. The problem with this thinking is that she is naively setting herself up for guys to “come onto her” and take what she didn’t plan on giving away.

Remember the old saying, “Look but don’t touch”? Nevertheless, guys are programmed to think beyond a look and those guys who have already been exposed to lovemaking on TV or movies begin to fantasize in their minds. If they’ve been exposed to pornography, they struggle with undressing a girl in their minds while they are simply talking to the girl. The girls thinks she is being cute while he is thinking he wants to touch her where he shouldn’t.

REASONING AWAY WHAT WE KNOW IS WRONG

I remember reading a letter to “Dear Abby” in the newspaper about a couple in their 50’s who had rented a duplex next door to a young couple. The young wife never wore underwear and her blouse always revealed the shape of her breasts as well as her nipples. The wife of the owner resented this woman’s appearance each time the young woman talked to the older woman’s husband because she knew that this woman wanted to sexually arouse not only her husband but any man she was around.

The writer of “Dear Abby” suggested that the couple who owned the duplex sit down with the young couple and inform them of this difficult situation, asking the young woman to dress differently. If she refused, she and her husband would need to find another place that would suit them better. I’ve likewise encountered Christian girls and women who obviously weren’t wearing bras under their clothes, consequently revealing the form of their breasts and nipples.

Anyone could tell by a glance that they were not wearing underwear. If it is difficult for the reader to understand, I’ll make it plain. If a guy can easily that a girl or woman is not wearing any underwear, it triggers lust and fantasy in his mind if he doesn’t look away or immediately remove his thoughts from it.

I have talked with Christian men of all ages - teens and adults - who have desired to walk holy, but who have had difficulty when Christian girls and women do not seem to be sensitive in the area of dressing modestly. At other times, a guy can reason away the importance of staying pure in his thought life by telling himself that every guy has wrong thoughts. Does that sound like a cop-out?

In the book, Every Man’s Battle, by Stephen Arterburn and Fred Stoker, the authors point out that Christians who struggle with sexual impurity do so because they have diluted God’s standard of purity with their own reasoning. Have you reasoned away sexual purity as no longer relevant today?

Some Christians say, “Oh, well, we all sin in thought, word or deed every day.” They claim that people just can’t keep from sinning. What they are saying is, “Go ahead and sin because you’re going to sin in some way every day anyway.” If it is okay to think wrong thoughts and okay to sin and not restrain yourself, then why did Jesus and the writers of the New Testament say we should cut off, deny, or kill wrong thoughts and not allow them? (See Matthew 5:28-30; Ephesians 5:3, 5-8, 11; Colossians 3:5; Romans 13:1314; 6:11-16; 1Thessalonians 4:3-8; James 4: 4-8; 1Peter 2:11.)

A girl likewise can reason away the importance of dressing modestly by telling herself it’s fashionable and every other girl and woman wears the same modest clothes. In addition, “you just can’t find modest clothes in stores anymore.” Let me ask then, why are some Christian girls and women able to find fashionable clothes that are modest? Why do people still admire them even though they dress modestly? Why did Jesus and other New testament writers write about purity, modesty and living holy lives?

Many Christian girls and women feel they should be free to dress however they desire without having to consider some man’s thoughts toward them. They think that if guys have a problem, it’s their problem to deal with, and they shouldn’t make girls feel that they can’t dress immodestly.

The following excerpt is taken from For Such a Time as This by Patsy Cameneti:

Remember, the last directive Elijah received from God involved the transfer of anointing. God wanted to drive out Baal worship in Israel in order to protect the line through which the Redeemer of the world would come. He gave Elijah instructions to bring hearts of the people back to God and prepare them for Himself. God chose three individuals to carry out this directive and anointed all three to bring about His desired result. We saw how God passed the anointing from Elijah to Elisha, who then dispensed that anointing to Hazael as the king. Another prophet then dispensed it to Jehu, a military leader.

This shows us that the anointing, which is for God’s purpose and plan, is transferred according to His direction and enables people to accomplish God-given assignments. Some of those assignments are carried out among the children of God, while others are fulfilled in a secular setting.

We would be mistaken to think that everything God has to do in preparation for Jesus’ return would be done solely within the Church. God is not limited to working only inside the Church. Indeed, He is working in the Church and through the Church, but God is working in the nations as well. The unfolding of His plan has a direct bearing in the rise and fall of leaders of nations and governments in these days and the days to come.

There are many accounts in the Bible where God gave kings directions for their nations. Likewise, military direction and strategy often came through prophets to achieve victory and execute judgments for the Lord.

In preparing the way for the Second Coming of the Lord, we are still seeing the anointing dispensed through the prophetic word and Spirit-led prayer. That anointing will certainly affect politicians as well as various people in many different levels and circles of authority.

Those who are anointed of God to accomplish particular tasks will not be exclusively those who stand in a pulpit. There will also be an anointing from God on political leaders as well as those in military and civil authority and other positions of influence.

As people of prayer, it is important that our panorama is widened so that when the Holy Spirit urges is to pray for people in these various positions, we don’t discount and resist His direction because of wrong thinking. We cannot have minuscule thinking in these days, because the ways of the Lord are expansive. Don’t be surprised about where you see the anointing or offended when you see the hand of God on someone you didn’t expect Him to use. Be thrilled and certain that whenever you see the anointing, it is all working together to prepare the way of the Lord!

When a wise woman speaks, she gives a reason for the hope that is within her. The most important word we can speak are ones that explain our faith to anyone who asks or who wil hopel listen.  We must be able to give a reason for the hope we have within us (1Peter 3:15). We have to pray that God will help us become bold enough to clearly explain our faith in God. We have to ask God to help us tell others why we call Jesus our Messiah, why we can’t live without the Holy Spirit and why we choose to live God’s way.

And we must be able to do this in a manner that is loving and humble. Otherwise, we will alienate those whom God wants to draw to Himself. If the love of God and the testimony of Hid goodness are not in our heart, then they will not come out of our mouth. And what we say will not draw people to the Lord. It may, in fact, do the exact opposite.

When a wise woman speaks, she knows that timing is important. When things need to  be said that are difficult for the hearer to receive, timing is everything. Certain words cannot be uttered with any success if the person listening is not open and ready to hear them. It’s important to discern that and the only way to know for certain when to speak and what to say is to pray about it in advance.

The Bible says that we are not to be too hasty to speak (Proverbs 29:20). A wise woman knows she shouldn’t share every single thought that comes into her head. “A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control” (Proverbs 29:11). You may have good things to say, but people aren’t always ready to hear them. Only God knows for sure when someone is ready. Ask Him to show you.

When a wise woman speaks, she tells the truth. When she doesn’t speak the truth, we hurt others as well as ourselves. “Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body” (Ephesians 4:25).

But we can’t run around speaking the truth without wisdom, sensitivity and a sense of the Lord’s timing. People don’t want to hear every bit of truth about themselves every moment. It’s too much for them. Sometimes it’s better to dsay nothing and pray for God to show you when a person is ready to hear the truth.

When a wise woman speaks, she doesn’t talk too much. We have to be careful that we don’t spend more time talking than is necessary. “As a dream comes when there are many cares, so the speech of a fool when there are many words” (Ecclasiastes 5:3). I always told my prayer group that we shouldn’t spend more time talking about our requests than we do praying for them.

And we can’t just spill words out of our mouth without giving thought to what we are saying. We will give account of every idle word in the day of judgment (Matthew 12:36). This is a very scary thought. We must ask God to make us wise in the amount of talking we do.

When a wise woman speaks, her words are gracious. We can’t speak words that are mean, incensitive, harsh, coarse, rude, deceitful, offensive or arrogant without reaping the consequences. With our words we will either buold lives or we will tear them down.

“The things that come out of the mouth come from the heart and these make a man “unclean” (Matthew 15:18).
“Words from a wise man’s mouth are gracious, but a fool is consumed by his own lips” (Ecclesiastes 10:12)

Ask God to create in you  a clean heart so filled with His Spirit, His love and His truth that it will overflow love, truth and healing in your speech. Ask Him to help you find words that speak life to those around you.

Keep in mind that others watch you. Some watch to pattern their lives after you. Others watch with wrong motives toward you. Some watch with disappointment regarding what they are forced to look at. What you wear sends signals to people.

What do guys see when they look at you? Could what you are wearing be causing their imaginations to go wild? Jesus said in Matthew 5:27-30 (TLB): You shall not commit adultery…Anyone who even looks at a woman with lust in his eye has already committed adultery with her in his heart. So if your eye - even if it is your best eye! - causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. Better for part of you to be destroyed that for all of you to be cast into hell. And if your right hand - even your right hand - causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. Better that than find yourself in hell (emphasis added)

These are very strong words. To clarify, Jesus is not just saying here that He wants us to mutilate our bodies. People can mutilate their bodies and still have wrong thoughts and lusts. Rather, He wants us to cut off whatever situations are causing wrong thoughts and lusts. His illustration shows us that we must become drastic in ridding ourselves of anything that creates lust and wrong thoughts in our lives.

If you have a problem with lust towards others, cut off (get away from and avoid even the appearance of) any situation that would cause you to keep lusting for that person or lusting to be lusted for. If you have a problem pornography, don’t read pornographic magazines or watch pornography on TV, videos, movies or the internet.

Get rid of anything that would tempt you toward it. If it is a person you lust for, get far away from that person. Jesus indicated that if you don’t get rid of whatever causes you to lust and think sexual fantasies, it could take a person to hell.

I realize many Christians don’t believe that sexual fantasizing is just as dangerous as the actual act. However, this is not what Jesus indicated. There has  to be sincere repentance for a person to go to Heaven if he or she has had the pull toward sin. Besides, it has been said that whatever a person thinks about over a long period of time, they will ultimately act out.

In addition, we are commanded to never be the cause of another person sinning against God. Ladies, you could not only be causing guys to stumble by what you choose to wear, but you could be a factor in someone going to hell. Ask yourself if you are following the leading of the Holy Spirit regarding the clothes that you wear. Are you open to His correction if you need to be corrected?

Ephesians 4:17-24 (TLB) says:

Live no longer as the unsaved do, for they are blinded and confused. Thier closed hearts are full of darkness; they are far away from the life of God because they have shut their minds against Him, and they cannot understand His ways. They stop at nothing, being driven by their evil minds and reckless lusts. But that isn’t the way Christ taught you! If you have really heard His voice and learned from Him the truths concerning Himself, then throw off your old evil nature - the old you that was a partner in your evil ways - rotten through and through, full of lust and shame. Now your attitudes and thoughts must all be constantly changing for the better. Yes, you must be a new and different person, holy and good. Clothe yourself with this new nature.

When your motive for life is seeking to please God, lust will have no power over you. You’ll think about what Jesus would want to do. He definitely does not need you to wear a thong, show your breast cleavage, or wear tight clothes to reveal how big your breasts are or how cute your bottom is, in order to bring Jesus glory and honor.

However, keeping yourself within the boundaries of modesty does honor God. It removes the possibility that someone might be seduced and instead, they can hear what you have to say about Jesus.

God is a God of abundance; He has so much for us. We have no idea!

Usually we look for crumbs under the table; He has prepared a feast for us in the royal banquet hall. We wonder if He remembers who we are, He has been calling our name. We wait for Him to notice our plight; He waits for us to take His hand. We see ourselves in the dark because we’ve done something wrong; He sees us in the light because we’ve done something right.

We don’t recognize the answers to our prayers; He moves powerfully at our request. We have trouble trusting Him fully with our future; He has a future for us better than the one we dream of for ourselves. “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” (1Corinthians 2:9)

We worry so about our future because we can never be completely certain about it. A single event can change our lives; for the better we hope, for the worse we fear. When we ask Him about it, He sometimes reveals specifics. But most of the time He doesn’t give us anything more than the assurance that our future is secure in His hands. He shows us that we have a future and this simple knowledge must be enough for us.

You have a great future ahead and it will be reached as you move out of your past and walk step-by-step with God as he reveals Himself to you in the present.

Just as you should not live in the past, resist the urge to live in the future also. Put your future in God’s hands, trusting that He will never withhold anything good from you and then stop worrying about it. This doesn’t mean a trumpet will sound announcing that you are spiritually immature if you find yourself concerned about the future.

God is not asking you to be perfect. He is asking you to be perfect in you. God is not asking you to have your whole future figured out. He is asking you to trust that He has a future planned. Thinking too much about the future can keep you from fully living the life God has given you now.

This doesn’t mean you can’t have goals, but some people have goals that are so strong they sacrifice everything to achieve them, even their family and God. Instead of allowing the goal to come from God, the goal itself becomes god.

Simply follow Him every day on that narrow pathway and you will be free. Free to trust Him for every step. Free to be all He made you to be. Free to do what He called you to do. Free to enjoy all He has for you. You will walk in a dept of love, peace, fulfillment and joy you never thought possible.

You don’t have to have you life all figured out; you only have to take one step at a time walking with God. And every time you put your hands in God’s hand, you’ll know you’ve got a solid hold on your future

As I listen to friends and women around me I can hear through their own words if they feel rejected or accepted. The most important pat in this is, that you accept yourself and love yourself the way you are. Rejecting yourself doesn’t change a thing, it actually multiplies your problems. Acceptance causes us to face reality and then begin to deal with it. We cannot deal with anything as long as we are refusing to accept it or deny its reality.

The will is involved in this whole process of acceptance. You can choose to accept yourself or not to choose to accept yourself. God is offering you the opportunity to accept yourself as you are., but you have a free will and can refuse to do so if you choose.

People/women reject themselves do so because they cannot see themselves as proper or right. They only see their flaws and weaknesses, not their beauty and strength. This is an unbalanced attitude, one that was probably instilled by authority figures in the past who majored on what was weak and wrong rather than on what was strong and right.

Acceptance gives approval and agreement. If we are having problems accepting ourselves as we are, I suggest that we need to get into agreement with God that what He created is good and that includes you and me.

Amos 3:3 says: ” Do two walk together except they make an appointment and have agreed? To walk with God, we must agree with God. He says He loves us; therefor, if we agree with Him, we can no longer hate and reject ourselves. We need to agree with God that when he created us, He created something good.

I should emphasize here that everything we do is not good, but at this point we are discussing ourselves, not our behavior. I will discuss in another post in detail how God views what we do; right now we are more concerned with who we are in God’s sight.

I remember the time when God revealed these principles to me. You see the things that need to be changed and it is very difficult for you to think or say. “I accept myself.” You feel that to do so would be to accept all that is wrong with you, but that is not the case.

You see I really don’t believe we can even begin the process of change until this issue is settled in our individual lives. You see Change requires correction. Hebr.12:6 says: “For the Lord corrects and disciplines everyone whom He loves and He punishes, even scourges every son whom he accepts and welcomes to His heart and cherishes.

This truth about God’s correction and discipline of those He loves is verified by Jesus Himself in revelation 3:19 when He says: Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I tell your faults and convict and convince and reprove and chasten [I discipline and instruct them]. So be enthusiastic and in earnest and burning with zeal and repent [changing your mind and attitude].

Change requires correction; people who do not know they are loved have a very difficult time receiving correction. Correction does no good at all if it is not received. We won’t receive His correction properly if we don’t have a revelation concerning His love for us. We may hear His correction and even agree with it, but it will only make us feel angry or condemned unless we know it is ultimately going to bring about the change that is needed in our life.

We cannot trust unless we believe we are loved. To grow up in God and be changed, we must trust Him. Often He will lead us in ways that we cannot understand and during those times we must have a tight grip on His love for us. Accept God’s love for you and make that love the basis for your love and acceptance of yourself.

Receive His affirmation, knowing that you are changing and becoming all that He desires you to be. Then start enjoying yourself - where you are - on your way to full spiritual maturity.

The 20’s can be marvelous, but it is also a time of many transitions. After all, 20-somethings are making the final bridge to adulthood and there are lots of choices and decisions to be made.

An old adage said that life was over at 40, but there are plenty of fit and fantastic 40-year-olds to prove that’s just not true. And at 60 and 70, life offers tremendous opportunities, including volunteering, perhaps a job change, more free time, travel, retirement or grandkids that inspire life to begin all over again, in new and different ways.

At every age, life is what you make it.

Women in their 20s will likely encounter many new joys - a first real job, the excitement of e new home or location, many new relationships and maybe marriage. It’s exciting, but can feel stressful at times, too. Parents aren’t there to cook balanced meals anymore and the time you had for sports or for just hanging around when you were in high school or college seems to have disappeared.

In your 20’s you should make time for building long-term freindships and to keep in contact with your friends. Some of the joy of good health comes from sharing with others - roommates, freinds or new spouse or partner. In fact, piring up with a new buddy for a long run once a week, taking a cooking class or the occasional spa visit go along way toward creating healthy habits and friendships that support each other for a lifetime.

In your 20’s, you’ll want to establish healthy habits that can stay with you through life. Healthy eating, regular excercise and getting enough sleep all affect health now and for the decades to come. Don’t start smoking and if you smoke then this is the time to quit.

Smoking’s a long term health effects are teeth, bad breath and premature wrinkles aroung your eues and lips are jsut a few of the unattractive  extras.

Energy drinks and bars promise energy and nutrition. Do they deliver?
The solution: Great lower calorie alternatives to the energy bars and drinks are fruits, vegetables and low-fat yogurt.

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) may increase food cravings and cause a surge in appetite and fluid retention.
Try eating foods that may help improve PMS symptoms.

Great Workouts for 20-somethings: in your 20’s you can try new workouts options and find exercises you can do with a friend or in limited amounts of time. Join a gym to meet other people or find an exercise group. Weight-bearing exercises like walking or running are good because they help build bone density.

“Though I am a young woman, I’m trying to develop habits that will do well for me as I get older. I try to eat right and I exercise every day.” Nora P, age 25