Another Christmas Post!

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

©Isaiah 9:6©

“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

©Isaiah 7:14©

“And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

©Luke 2:10-14©

Merry Christmas!!!!!!

Seeing as this is most likely the last time I'll be blessed to be able to use the Internet until after Christmas :( I want to wish all of my precious readers a very                        Merry Christmas!!
Right now I'm spending time with one of my SUPER SPECIAL VERY BESTEST FRIEND in the world :) :) My special sister Gabrielle Allen! Her family (which is even larger than mine! 10!) are Southern Gospel singers (to learn more about them click here!!) so I rarely get to see her which makes these two days even more special!! I don't know how many times the Lord has used her voice, texts, or simply prayers to comfort and encourage me!
But anyhoo... :)
    Merry Christmas my precious sisters in Christ!
Fight hard for Him this Christmas season as His warrior, but take time to remember that you are His precious princess, and that he came as a child to die as a man because He LOVES YOU SO MUCH!! Take a little extra time on your knees this Christmas to thank Him for His wonderous love!

My Awesome Siblings

Last night my family put up our Christmas tree!! (okay, my brother put it up and then sparadically it got decorated lol) The front room is now littlered tastefully with Christmas knicknacks and just makes everything more Christmassy!! :) so happy! Now if we could only get rid of those few remaining pumpkins and gourds sitting on each end of the mantle... lol

I've been meaning for a while to post some pix of my awesome family!!

This is my younger (I can no longer say "little" :( and be truthful!!) brother Joseph and his first deer!!! I was SO proud of him!! And happy too! I've got a freezer full of venison to cook all winter! lol

These are my little sisters Bethie (who just turned 9 this week!!) and Hannah (who is ten). Hannah's the one in curlers! lol As you can tell, this was a lazy day at home! Hannah usually runs around the house in an ancient, worn out, and really whacky skirt on, and Bethie's gonna pass her up in height any day now :(

This is my best friend and room mate Heidi on her 13th birthday (just 10 days before my 18th!!) We gave daddy a hard time by reminding him that he had two milestone bdays that month :) (mom would normally groan from somewhere in the background lol) Apparently us being so old makes them old as well lol.

This is my perky little (at this blessed point in time he still is my "little" brother!!) brother Nathan, who is also the youngest!! Isn't he just hysterically adorable?!

So these are my awesome siblings!! Now, this may not be my mindset every moment of the day (lol) but it always is in the long run!! They are such a blessing when I just stop to think about it-- even in the little things! Joseph put up the tree and strung the lights last night, and only last week he just randomly suprised my dad at hanging some drywall he (my dad) had been meaning to get around to for heaven knows how long! lol He'd never done it before and did an AMAZING job! (he and dad both said there was a small gap, but to my untrained eye, they could've fooled me!) And just look at that deer!

Then last night after the frontroom was all decked out, I made everyone hot chocolate and they plopped down and popped in a Christmas movie. I went to go back to my room (which is in the basement) and lost traction on the first step with my houseshoes and ended up falling down the stairs (owie!!) Heidi, Hannah, and Bethie were at my side, crowding me out on the steps within seconds, bombarding me with "Are you okay?" "What'd you hurt?" "Did you slip?" (Nooo!! lol) "Did you hurt anything?" "Are you alright?" "Need help?" It struck me how sweet it was that they all came rushing to make sure I was okay. :)

And then little Nathan... omysoul is that little buddy a bundle of energy!!!!! Yesterday I was juicing apples for breakfast and he (being the only one up and at the table at that point) begged me to let him put a few apples in the shooty thing and push them down. So I let him. :) It was super cute how excited he got over putting three apples in and juicing them! As everyone else came to the table, he let them know how HE made apple juice with Katie. It was so precious. He begged me to get him up this morning so we could do it again, and I planned on it, but I got up too late and was doing my devotions when he wanted to this morning, so he did it with mommy. He told me later, "Me and momma made juice!" Mom had already told me (she told me they had added a few carrots, despite his plea not to, and then he was pleasently suprised when it was really yummy lol) "I heard!" I told him. "I heard you added a special ingredient this morning and it was really yummy!" "Yeah!" He said, but there was no more left, so he added, "We can make you some later." It was so precious!

As "big sister", who is often "in charge", I need to remember these precious moments and focus on the special and promising talent with and belonging to my siblings whenever they start to argue or rough house or tattle and I begin to feel agrivated and lose my meek and quiet spirit and joy in the LORD.

I challenge you, dear sisters, to do the same thing this week! Every time you begin to feel aggrivated and are tempted to be greived with your siblings, pause and thank God for them and then ask Him to show you something good about them you can focuse on and even praise them for! Remember, even though "all those brothers and sisters'' can drive you crazy, there are girls out there who would do almost anything to just have ONE.

Our siblings are blessings- gifts!- from God!!!!

What are you thankful for about your siblings today?

Dear Readers...

Dear sisters and fellow Warriors...
I realize there's been little activity on my blog lately! :( This is to my shame (and an appalling lack of transportation!! :D)
I promise there will be another real post soon! Until then, BE STRONG IN THE LORD AND IN THE POWER OF HIS MIGHT!!! And for the love of Peter Cartwright-- DO STAY WARM!!!
I'm praying for you all!
LOVE AND PRAYERS
His prudent princess Katie

Lessons from a Disobedient Daughter

~Genesis 19: 30-38~

-         Read Genesis 19:30-38

-         Whew! Examples of disobedient daughterhood are all over this passage! *Now obviously, this family is way off kilter because of Lot’s lack of leadership in the home L I will add this as a disclaimer. It seems as though Lot’s daughter were responding to their father’s wicked and lustful example and lack of Godly vision. L So, although I enumerate and expound upon the disobedience of the daughters so I may learn from it, I acknowledge most of the reason they behaved thus is because of their father, Lot. And technically, although we all wish these eight or nine verses were not in the Bible (L) Lot was actually kind of reaping the consequences for bringing up his daughters in such a promiscuous environment!! This little detail cleared up, let us commence on what we as daughters can glean from this passage!! J

1.     As firstborn (or older sister—I happen to be both J) be a Godly example! Don’t use my special, God-given position as a means of leading my younger sisters (siblings) astray!!

-(verses 31, 32, &34) this elder sister had such a wonderful opportunity to be a Godly influence in her younger sisters life! (and actually in the life of her entire family, what was left of it; See Genesis 19:15-17, 24-26). She could’ve said, “Hey, dad’s old and we don’t have any kids. Seeing as God has just delivered us from such destruction, let’s pray and ask Him for some (kids) and trust that He’ll give them to us! Perhaps this way, we can even be a light and encouragement to our father as well!” –but no!! L Sadly, this oldest sister/firstborn of the two of them not only gave wicked counsel to her younger sister, but she also led the way and was a bad example with and by her actions!! L (see verse 33)

-nowhere do we see the younger sister verbally responding; she didn’t’ ask for this advice, but she did take it. (Random side note: our little sisters take much more stock in what we say than we may ever realize!!!)

Lesson #1: Part of my Biblical role as a sister is (unless it’s some dastard sin in need of reproof) not to give or force my opinion or advice on my younger sisters unless they ask for it! (Literally not figuratively J) because it could lead them astray and cause much more harm than it does good, even though we intend it in that way.

2.     Her/their priorities were out of whack. (Oh, this one’s gonna hurt!!L)

-Look at her/ their motivation behind this dishonorable and shameful action—(verses 31 & 32) They/she wanted a man and children. Ouch.

 Yes it was a social stigma not to have children in that time (as in the cases of Sarah and Rebekah—but in each of these instances, the woman trusted God to provide…and He did! Of course, they both already had the husband, and Lot’s daughters did not, but that just mean that Lot’s daughters had an even greater opportunity to prove God’s power!!L)

Lesson #2: Biblical lesson for daughters here is to keep our priorities straight and in line with the will of God.

“I’m God’s daughter and therefore His Princess and I’m privileged to be enlisted in His service as His warrior. I’m a daughter to my father and mother. I’m an older sister to my two younger brothers and three younger sisters. Those things I am. What I am not, however, are these: I am not a wife. I am not a mother. At present (and perhaps never!) this is not my Heavenly Father’s will for me.” 

As daughters we must not long to be something we’re not (wives and mothers) when God has so clearly given us the precious role of daughter and sister! We must be content! God’s chosen to entrust us with these roles!

3.     They did not trust (or even acknowledge!!L) God in their seemingly hopeless situation (just as their Aunt Sarah was in the exact process of doing at this very moment with a seemingly hopeless situation of her own) –

Okay—quick bunny trail. This intrigued me! Think how would could have this account ended had Sara reached out to them and done a little “Titus 2-ing” in the area of trusting God when all is humanly hopeless?! Sarah knew all about this! Just as there was no human way that Lot’s two daughters could have married and had children with the absolute lack of men—just as that was impossible—so was Sarah’s situation of waiting for the promised son Isaac when she was over forty years past the age of conceiving, let alone childbearing!! That’s humanly impossible! Yet… didn’t it happen!?!?!?? And during the time her nieces were acting upon a complete lack of faith, Sarah was strengthening hers by trusting in the Almighty God! She could have reached out to these young women. I wonder if perhaps she didn’t because she simply didn’t see the need? I don’t know, and perhaps I’m reading into this a bit, but this one threw me for a loop!

“LORD, make me sensitive to the situation when it is Your will for me to speak up and act out Titus 2!!!”

AnyhooJ…Back to Lot’s disobedient daughters and what we as decided daughters can learn from them and their mistakes!!

They did not trust God to provide for their needs and desires. Now this is (again) largely Lot’s fault, for he most likely never taught them to cry out to God in times of need or to trust Him L but regardless!!

Lesson #3 This still teaches us as daughters the importance of taking my needs and requests before the LORD, giving them to Him, LEAVING them with Him, and then trusting Him to work things out according to His perfect will!!

~~Quick Recap~~

The Lessons for the Obedient, Decided Daughter from the Disobedient Daughters of Lot

1.     Do not give my advice unless it is asked for (within prayerful reason)

2.     Be content to be the best daughter and sister I can be (by God’s grace if this is the role He’s entrusted me with for now)

3.     Trust and rely on the LORD to answer my prayers and to bring me through what seems (to me) to be an impossible situation

Love in Christ, His Princess Warrior

Princess Warrior Passage

Greetings Sisters and fellow warriors!

I realize that it’s been a while since I last posted L

It’s not a good thing either! Lol I keep reading amazing Scripture passages and stories and learning amazing lessons I want to share with you all, but I have yet to have the time to just sit and write them all out. It’s on my TO-DO LIST (oh, and trust me, I usually have several of these!!J). I had a really awesome lesson that we as daughters and young Christian women so badly need (okay, at least this one needed it!), so it is forthcoming!

But for now, here is one of my most favorite “Princess Warrior” passages—I had a bad day in the battle a few days ago and was feeling discouraged, so I grabbed my Bible and curled up with it in bed right before I went to sleep and read this passage. It calmed my soul and helped to give me a sense of peace and even hope! It is truly one of my favorites. I hope and pray that it encourages you as it did/does me!!

I love you all, dear sisters!

Fight strong and remember~~ HE’S ALREADY WON FOR US THE ULTIMATE VICTORY!!!

Psalms 18

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: And he said

1 I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.

2 The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

3 I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

4 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.

5 The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.

6 In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.

7 Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.

8 There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.

9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.

10 And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.

11 He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.

12 At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.

13 The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.

14 Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.

15 Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.

16 He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.

17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.

18 They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay.

19 He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

20 The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.

21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.

22 For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me.

23 I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity.

24 Therefore hath the LORD recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.

25 With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright;

26 With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.

27 For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks.

28 For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.

29 For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall.

30 As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.

31 For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God?

32 It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.

33 He maketh my feet like hinds' feet, and setteth me upon my high places.

34 He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.

35 Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great.

36 Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip.

37 I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them: neither did I turn again till they were consumed.

38 I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet.

39 For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.

40 Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies; that I might destroy them that hate me.

41 They cried, but there was none to save them: even unto the LORD, but he answered them not.

42 Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind: I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets.

43 Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people; and thou hast made me the head of the heathen: a people whom I have not known shall serve me.

44 As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me.

45 The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close places.

46 The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted.

47 It is God that avengeth me, and subdueth the people under me.

48 He delivereth me from mine enemies: yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man.

49 Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name.

50 Great deliverance giveth he to his king; and sheweth mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore.!!!

18 Years of Blessings!!

Hey dear sisters!!!
Well, it's finally official! I turned 18 last Tuesday! :) My mom still insists I'm a teenager~ my dad will call me an adult~ my little siblings just know that Katie's in charge~~at least when mom & dad are out ~~ so I still feel in the middle :) but it's still an amazing milestone nonetheless!!
While alot, okay most people complain about growing older, I (at least at this point lol) choose to see it as a blessing! God in His infinite grace and wisdom has seen fit to bless me with another year with which to spend in His service! But reflecting on the past is pretty awesome as well. Even the struggles I've been through seem worth it somehow, even if the only thing they brought about was a strengthening of my understanding and a deeper love for my Savior. My God has given me so much to be thankful for!!.... including now another year!!!

18 Special Blessings:

1. My Salvation and personal relationship with my Savior (Ex 15:2, Is 12:2)

2. My Bible~my Love Letter and Battle Plans (Ps 119:9,11,38,87,105)

3. My Family~the BEST parents and awesomest (if not wildest :D) siblings (Mal 4:6a)

4. My church, pastor, and church family (Mt 18:20)

5. My friends and fellow sisters in the faith! (Tit 3:15)

6. My computer (Internet access at home or no! lol) (Ps 68:19)

7. My wonderful bed (Ps 63:6)

8. My coffee maker (and I'm so not lying!) (1st Cor 10:31 LOL)

9. My little tracphone :) (again, I'm thankful I have one!) (Heb 13:16 a LOL)

10. My house (the place of shelter and warmth) (Duet 6:7)

11. My piano (even though my daddy needs to tune it!) (Ps 92:3)

12. Food  (Mt 6:11)

13. My home (the atmospher of my family in our place of shelter) (Ps 127:1)

14. My MP3 player (Eph 5:19)

15. Spiritual leaders in my life (Titus 2:3-5)

16. The opportunity to stay at home, in my father's house, serving my family and helping my mother (Ps 144:12)

17. Health (Ps 42:11)

18. Endless opportuinities to serve my Jesus!! (Mt 20:28, Lk 1:38)