Becoming Virtuous

A blog sharing my thoughts on life and what God is teaching me

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  • I’m back!

    Well, I’m still alive.  But barely! 🙂   Praise God it wasn’t too tiring til last night, and my teeth stopped being excruciating on Friday!  I’m really tired right now though.  We got back from our ballot party at about 11:45 and got to bed around 12:00.  Then we had church this morning, which I was surprisingly awake for.  But then right after church I went to bed and slept for 3 hours.  I’m still trying to wake up!

    But our team did well at the tournament.  One of my friends broke to finals for the first time in his speech and got 7th.  In debate both my brother and myself did really well.  We both broke to Octos, and it was a split decision on who won!  This was also the first time I have ever broken in debate.  I went three and three!  That’s my best record so far.  Then, for the real shocking part.  I got 10th in speaker points!  My judges were very liberal with speaker points.  So I don’t think I deserved to get 10th, but it was kind of cool just the same! 🙂

    The sad part of the tournament, was that, for several of my friends, this is their last tournament ever.  They have gotten burned out, and are planning on not coming back next year, and they can’t make it to Regionals even though they broke.  :tear, tear:  So that was very sad.  I’m hoping that we can convince them to go one more year.

     Anyways, I’m very tired, and I haven’t eaten lunch yet.  (I went straight to bed)  So I think I might go try to eat something. 🙂

    Thanks ya’ll for your prayers!!

    Tee-Kaye

  • Speech and Debate… yet again

    Well, another tournament is just around the corner… tomorrow!  I’m starting to freak out.  I don’t know if I’ll ever learn not to procrastinate!

     I bought some material a couple of weeks ago to make some suit skirts.  I cut out the first one today, and it’s almost half finished.  I haven’t done much for debate in the past week, and I haven’t practiced my speech at all.  I still have to make all the food for our lunches.  And I probably won’t eat anything at all this week anyways, because I got chains put on my braces today.  (I’m in terrible pain, in case you were wondering. ; )

    So I guess this post is turning out a lot like one I wrote before the last tournament.  I don’t think I’ll ever learn to stop being lazy and get things done before the day before.   Sorry I just came on to complain. ; )  I guess I just need to remember what I’ve written before on peace.

    And I need to be humble.  After getting first at the last tournament, it’s extremely difficult not to be prideful, and expect to get first again.

    Sorry for these random thoughts.  But, if you feel called to pray for me, please pray that God will give my club and myself strength to make it to the end of the week.  That we will have peace, and that I won’t be egotistical and selfish towards others.

     Hope to see you at the end of the week! ; )

    Tee-Kaye

  • Battle for Civilization

    One of my friends alerted me of a new project of the Botkin family.  It’s a series called “The Battle for Civilization.”  Last night we watched the trailer that they have on their website, and like the stuff they’ve done before, it looks absolutely wonderful!  In it, Mr. Botkin is going to tell history from a different perspective then is widely taught right now.  Check out the trailer!

    http://www.battleforcivilization.com/

    I can hardly wait for it to come out!

    ~Tee-Kaye

  • A new cool website

    I just learned of this website the other day.  I haven’t had much time to explore it, but it is done by a very godly sweet young lady.  One of her purposes in making this website was to help equip other girls with learning to be a homemaker.  I strongly encourage everyone to check it out!

    http://arston.net/homemakers/

    ~Tee-Kaye

  • Who to choose…

    Recently on a forum I which I visit frequently, I started a thread asking if anyone on there ever thought of what they would look for in a husband/wife.  Most of them gave only two “standards” (as I like to call them).  That they be a Christian and that there be mutual love.  But I shared that I expect much more.  This is the list of standards that I have thought over and that I presented.

    Musts:

    * He must be a strong Christian. At least the same, but preferably farther in his walk with God than I am. Steadily growing, not stagnant.

    * Any guy that would be up for consideration must be a real man as laid out in Scripture. (I can elaborate if necessary)

    * He must have a vision for his life. He has no business asking me to join him if he has no idea where he’s going in the first place. ; )

    * Things that are important to me must be important to him. Like him being the sole provider for the family, my staying home and homeschooling our kids, having as many kids as the Lord will give us, etc.

    * He must hold to Reformed Theology (Calvinism), be an Amillenialist, a conservative Presbyterian, believe in water dunking baptism and believe in the Trinity.

    * He must be someone I can respect, spiritually and otherwise. I can’t submit to someone I can’t respect. Also, someone who can truly respect me in turn.

    Preferred:

    * Hopefully a physical virgin, having saved himself totally for his wife. This includes the first kiss being on the wedding day.

    * It would be much preferred if he is an emotional virgin. Not having given his heart away before.

    * (This may end up being a must later on, but I’ll put it here for now.) Music is something that is very important to me. I don’t think I could get along with someone who believe that rock music is sinful. I think a disagreement on that subject would cause too much friction.

    What many people have been accusing me of is not trusting and relying on the Lord by making up this list.  They think (at least from what I can gather from their replies), that my standards are too high, especially to let God work in my life.

    But,  you see, I also see this list as a way to keep myself accountable.  If I know what I’m looking for in a husband, besides being a Christian, then I’m less likely to just give my heart away to just any guy.  I don’t think any of my standards are unreasonable.  There has yet to be any Biblical references against any of them (except Proverbs 3:5-6).

    I’m sorry if I sound like I’m whining and complaining.  I’m curious what you, my friends, think of my standards.  Do you think that they restrict my ability to trust in God and lean not on my own understanding?  Please post your comments!

    ~Tee-Kaye

  • Alan Keyes for President!!

    Now, I know that I’ve posted on him before, but I really feel the burden to get the word out about him.  I’ll post more on him in depth later, but for now, here’s a link so that you might go check him out yourself.  Just keep in mind, he’s the only qualified candidate running for president!

    http://www.alankeyes.com/issues.php

    This a link to his website telling what his stances are on the issues.

     Please go and read it!

    ~Tee-Kaye

  • Humility

    Golda Meir once said, “Don’t be so humble – you are not that great.”

     I found that really funny.  Humility is something God has been convicting me on recently.  Especially after winning at the Centennial Qualifier! ; )  But it has always been something I’ve needed to work on.

    Everyone one of us is a fallen human being.  And because of our sin nature we are always looking out for our own good.  I found this really good article, and I strongly urge you to read it.

    http://www.sovereigngracebible.org/a_cure_for_self_centeredness.htm

    It really made me think.  Especially the part on jealousy.  As a girl I am often finding myself being very jealous, even of my dear friends.  I envy their prettiness, their sweetness, and even their ability to make guys like them. (Now isn’t that contradicting everything I’ve been writing about Emotional Purity!)  Humility is definitely something God needs to change my heart on.  He needs to teach me to be humble.  Not fake humility, or the humility that is berating myself and my actions.  But the true humility of truly and sincerely caring more about others than myself.

     ~Tee-Kaye

  • Of brave knights and fair maidens

    We all know and love those wonderful fairy tales that we grew up listening to.  A maiden stuck in a tower waiting for a knight to scale the walls and free her from her prison.  Or a princess held captive by a dragon or some other giant mean thing. ; )  While these stories are “fairy tales” and wrought with many things that aren’t true that we shouldn’t put our hopes in. (Like love at first sight, etc.)  But I think that there is something important that we can learn from these works of fiction.

    First of all, which of the two, the knight or the fair maiden, was the one in trouble? ; )  Us girls need to realize that we are the weaker (that doesn’t mean less valuable) of the two.  We need to let men be the ones who save us, not us always brushing off their attempts to help.  Now that’s a whole other topic, so I will move on to the real one I want to address.

    Next, what did the knight have to do?  He had to work to achieve the fair maiden’s hand.  He had to scale the wall or fight off the dragon.

    We hear often times about girls who flaunt themselves showing that they can be “saved” with very little work beforehand.  But I think this can also apply and the smaller level of emotional purity.

    Girls, if we wear our hearts on our sleeve by flirting with guys, or making it obvious who we like, aren’t we making it easy for a guy to steal our hearts?  In all the good books, we read of the man having to win the heart of the woman he loves.  But if we easily give our hearts away, what is there to win?  I’m not saying that you should be mean to a guy by making him work overly hard to win you. (None of my friends are close to coming into a situation like that though, so I don’t really need to worry. ; )  But we shouldn’t be so quick to give our hearts away.  Especially since we really don’t know if that guy is the one who should receive our heart.

    I listened to a sermon on a cd we got from Vision Forum called “7 Biblical Truths Violated by Christian Dating.”  In it the speaker said something that intrigued me.  He said that we need to follow the Adam principle in how we look for a mate.

    Adam was put in charge of naming all the animals.  But after having named them all, he found that there was no helpmeet suitable for him.  God told him not to worry, and put him to sleep until his helpmeet was ready for him.  The speaker said we need to do the same thing.  We know that we were designed to get married (thought there are a few that God has not called to marriage) but we need to put to sleep those desires within us, until God wakes us up.  And you can be pretty sure that if you are not old enough, or mature enough to be married, God wasn’t the one who woke you up.  Go back to sleep! ; )  And if you aren’t sure, go to God in prayer, asking if this wake up call is from him or not.   Seek godly counsel from your parents, or someone else that you trust.  It is completely useless to wake up and indulge your desires before it is time to.

    So remember, be a maiden worth working for, go to sleep, and wait till God wakes you up!

     Good night! ; )

  • Thanks for your prayers!

    I wrote this in my diary about midnight last night.  I don’t know a better way to write about my experience so I’ll share my diary entry.

    “About an hour ago we got back from the Centennial Qualifier.  And though I should be asleep my heart is too full, I must pour it out on paper (I already did in prayer). I must first tell your first that my biggest fear coming into this tournament was that I’d get sick and completely drained of energy like the last tourney.  So on Wednesday morning while getting ready I poured out my heart to God.  Sharing and talking to him, who is all-knowing and all-powerful, my fears and a plea for strength and courage to make it through the week.  God be praised he carried me through!  Only once was I really tired (on Thursday) and I didn’t throw up! ; ) I broke to semis and then to finals with my speech.  I went up when they called for the people who had broken so as to announce the winners in my speech catagory .  They got done with the semis and the tension was mounting.  8th… 7th… 6th went by without my name being called.  Seth Enos got 5th!  I was amazed I had beat him!  But then 4th and 3rd went by without it being me.  It was down to me and Benjamin Adams.  Mrs. Fryberger said, “Second Place…. Benjamin Adams.”  Ben got second!  I’d gotten first!!!!!  I was so shocked!  I was literally shaking as I shuffled to the stage stairs.  I was beaming, I was joyful and I couldn’t hold it in!  The Lord has been so gracious!  Before trying to sleep I opened up my Bible to Psalms for I felt like praising God.  I “randomly” ; ) (Holy Spirit) chose to read Psalm 145.  When I got to the end I found this.

    “17  The Lord is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made.   18The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.  19He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.  20The Lord watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.  21My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord.  Let every, creature praise his holy name for ever and ever”

    How fitting don’t you think? ; )  I also thought of Isaiah 40

    “29He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.  30Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;  31but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and  not be faint.”

    I must go to sleep now, it’s nearly midnight.  The Lord is gracious and abounding in steadfast love!  Sola Deo Gloria!”

    It really touched me last night when I was led to Psalm 145 and it talked about God answering the cries of our heart.  I had cried out to him earlier in the week, and he answered my prayers and the deepest desires of my heart in ways I hardly dared to hope for!  I have so much to grateful to God for.  And thank you all so much for your prayers as well!  I’m grateful to have such wonderful, godly friends!  Love ya all!

    Sola Deo Gloria!

     ~Tee-Kaye

  • Another prayer request

    We’re about to head off to the next Speech and Debate tournament.  I’m scared to death!!  (Don’t worry all, I’m bringing my will.  For those of you who don’t know about it, I wrote a will one day before a tourney to be silly.  But it certainly helped to relieve some of the tension I was feeling that day! ; )  We completely changed our affirmative case so I’m scared because I don’t feel prepared.  And we are getting rid of anchor babies, and that is going to be very hard to argue, so I’m scared about that as well!  I’m also scared because of what happened at the last tournament.  I don’t want to throw up again at the end of the week.  So if ya’ll could pray for our speech club and myself.  That God would give us courage and strength to make it through the week.  And that my brother’s Duo partner and myself will keep our voices found for the entirety of the tourney.

    Thank you all!

    God Bless!

    ~Tee-Kaye