Back In Touch Again
Alright ya’ll…I have a huge smile on my face right now as I write this. It’s good to be back writing. There is so much to say, and I want to tell all and I will soon enough. First of all lets start off with summer life. Summers are so crazy for me, I come home and get straight to work preparing financially for the next year. Right now I am working two different jobs and definitely staying on the move. During the day I am nannying the same family I did last year and nights and weekends I work at a daycare. So once again, kids are my life. It’s hard at times, perhaps frustrating even, and it’s always exhausting but when it comes down to it I love always being around kids. I have been asked so many times whether it’s worth it, whether it’s worth all this work and stress to go to Covenant and there’s not a doubt in my mind that for me it is. I know that not everyone will be able to say this, but I feel the same confidence about going to Covenant next year as I did my senior year in high school when I was deciding whether or not Covenant was the right school for me. It’s a confidence that forces faith. Which I am so glad for, because God knows how hard a time I have with trusting him. I look at life next year and have no idea how it’s going to work, how am I going to pay for it, how am I going to deal with another year away from family and friends, but God is pushing me-pushing me to the edge, and even off the edge at times- so I have to trust him. So I have a month and a half left, and I am seeing God provide for me every day. I hope I never forget that I am so blessed to be where I am. It’s so easy to forget, to get caught up with my crazy schedule, with whining kids, with hard to work with parents. How is God blessing you, through your seemingly frustrating situations. Anyways, there’s so much more to say and trust me they will come soon. Just wanted to touch base. See Ya’ll!
Published on Jul 5, 2008 at 7:15 pm.
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What a Weekend!
Oh my goodness guys yesterday couldn’t have gone better! God is so faithful! It was so much fun. Watching each of my sisters’ talk was so amazing! And oh my goodness it was so great getting to hear my mom. I think she is such a talented speaker and what she has to tell is so practical for girls today.
One of my favorite parts of the conference was the fashion show. Since Dillard’s was gracious enough to let us borrow cloths for the fashion show, the girls had a chance one day to go about the store and pick whatever they wanted for the fashion show. They had a blast! Watching the girls model such different cloths and watching each of their different personalities was so special.
It was so amazing when one parent came up to me after my talk to tell me that she had a daughter that has been going through exactly what I went though in high school. She asked if I would consider meeting with her daughter, which just made me so excited. I love the thought of getting take the stuff talked about at the conference to a deeper level.
I can only hope that God will provide another opportunity for our family to do this again. But until then it’s back to reality. I fly back up to school tomorrow and then finals are coming up this Friday.
Published on Apr 20, 2008 at 5:32 pm.
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My Live-In-Style Talk
Just wanted to share…please pray….
As a teenager, I worked very hard trying to make people believe that I was important… I wanted them to think they needed me. But if we are honest with ourselves, isn’t that what we do. Our interactions with friends are opportunities to try and be “the funniest person,” “the sweetest person,” “the most helpful person”, “the most beautiful person”. You see, my need to belong, be noticed, liked, appreciated, and accepted…yah, it was out of control. I thought that I had successfully fooled everyone into believing I was significant and that life could not go on without me…, and then I went to Africa. I chose to spend a semester of my junior year overseas and when I came back, my friends had moved on in life without me. They didn’t seem to need me anymore, which was a very scary place to be. I was determined to show them that I still belonged and that they did need me.
By the end of my junior year I had become very peer dependent. My attitudes had changed, my appearance had changed, and my desires had shifted…and it was not in a positive direction. My parents and I wrestled our way through my senior year. Now, I want you to understand, drinking, drugs, and sex weren’t my issue. No, my issue was that my choices began to compromise what I believed…what I stood for, and it was ruining my Christian witness. My battles were with materialism, selfishness, deceit, disobedience, apathy…but Oh my goodness, nothing compared with my biggest challenge… fashion and modesty. In order to belong, I felt I needed to look, be, and act like my peers. I was a mess! Can any of you relate?
I started to show up at school with pointed spike heels, tight blue jeans and tight tops that occasionally showed a hint of cleavage. I learned how to make a seemingly “modest” outfit look sexy. It wasn’t hard… you know the outfit is only half the math; it was all about how I carried the outfit… with an air of confidence, and a bit of attitude that communicated, ”I’m hot and I know it.” Oh trust me girls, I know right now you are probably saying, “What’s the big deal if it’s just a little bit of cleavage.” Or, “You really can’t help it today, that’s all they sell in the stores.”…No excuses! The problem wasn’t my fashion…it was my heart. In my heart I wasn’t dressing to honor Christ, I was dressing to entice. I knew it! Anyone can dress fashionably without compromising modesty…I simply chose not to.
Little did I know that my appearance was carrying me right into a world that was so not me, a group I wasn’t prepared for. My friends were all about their “looks! All about buying clothes…the latest and trendiest fashion! And… they were all about impressing guys! Guys took their cues as to how to treat me by the image I was promoting. They would flirt with me and call me “hot” or “sexy”. I hated it, and felt so lost trying to be someone that I wasn’t. I was finally getting the attention that I worked so hard to get, but it wasn’t the attention I wanted. I knew there was more to me, but the world didn’t care. They seemed to be happy with this. So, I became very materialistic, thinking that would fill the void I felt in my life.
You’ll laugh at this one…for those of you who know me, I have a shoe fetish. One day I went crazy. I went to Burlington Coat Factory and bought 6 pairs of shoes… They were on sale…I couldn’t pass them up! My bank account took a nosedive, and I had bounced checks coming in for a week. Ya, those shoes…they ended up costing me a mint. And then there was the parental drama. My mom was stunned. “You really don’t get it do you??? She said. They were desperately trying to figure out a way for me to afford college…and I was spending money on shoes…many pairs of shoes and other clothes as well. Lots of drama…lots of tears that year.
Well ladies, I am here to tell you that you have a powerful influence in the lives of young men you interact with. Men were created to physically desire our bodies. We, women, can use this power to either build them up or tear them down. They are very visual, physical beings and can easily be tempted to lust simply by a girl wearing immodest clothes or by her flirtatious behaviors. An attraction or a distraction? The choice is yours every day in the way you dress, move, touch, talk, and simply in the attitude you display.
And by the way…do you know that you can look “sexy” even when your body is covered up? My mom would call me out on my fashion…I still remember some of her comments, “you look sexy today dear…are you sure that is the look you want to promote?” Or “Look in the mirror and if you and God agree that the way you look will represent Him well, then I am OK with it.” It would make me so angry because for the most part my body was covered.
So lets make a list of things that might give us a “sexy look” and cause a guy to lust?
I think we would all agree that
Tattoos, Body Piercings, Cleavage showing, your mid drift showing, and short skirts and shorts can be very sexy. But lets list some other things that could give the appearance of looking sexy:
Spike heels
Tight clothes
Messy hair
Dramatic make-up
Dark nail polish
Tall boots
Perfume
Acrylic nails
Scented lip-gloss
Big earrings
Ankle Bracelets
Padded bras
My mom would say none of these things in and of themselves are wrong to wear. However you have to wear them carefully…maybe one or two at a time, so it doesn’t give the overall appearance of being sexy. Let me show you.
By summer I finally started to get it. I began to realize that life was so much bigger than my social life, the latest fashions, the sportiest cars, the coolest gadgets, or having popular friends. I realized I was more than a body for people to look at. I had so much more of me I wanted to share with people. But most of all I realized that my value did not rest in what my friends thought about me…I now understood that I was important to God and my family, and that is what really mattered and was enough for me.
But… those struggles, those tear, the restlessness I felt that year had a great purpose…I’m closer to my family now, my relationship with the Lord is stronger, I have stronger convictions, and a stronger desire to serve others. I have no idea where I would be today if it wasn’t for God in my life and the accountability we had established through our deep family relationships.
It took a year for me to begin to unfold my story. Two words describe my senior year… “Very Dark!” Mom asked me, “What was it that caused you to hang on and not completely abandon your faith, your family, or your church. I laughed and said, “This had nothing to do with my hanging on. God and my family, just wouldn’t let go of me…its not about what I did…it’s all about God’s redeeming grace.”
Published on Apr 19, 2008 at 5:23 pm.
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Live In Style
I told you guys a while ago in one of my blogs that my mom has spoken at several conferences before, well this weekend she will be speaking at yet another conference called, “Live In Style.” She has been planning for this for months. You see this conference is especially special to my mom. It will be the first time that all five of us daughters will be speaking along side her. Although we have spoken at her conferences before we haven’t had the chance to all speak at the same one.
I love listening to each of my sisters’ stories. They are all so different and almost every girl out there can find some way to relate to one of us. I have been practicing my talk for weeks now and I’m not going to lie I’m a bit nervous. I flew out from Covenant yesterday and spent all day Thursday and will spend all day today getting ready for the conference. But being with my sisters makes the hustle and bustle totally worth it.
My prayer for this weekend is that my mom and us girls will be able to speak to some of the teenage girls we talk to. I want so bad to speak truth, because I know for many of them modesty is an issue. Everyday girls are faced with trying to please their friends, family, and God. It took all my high school years to figure out that my order of pleasing people was all out of sorts. Instead of honoring Christ in what I wore I was pleasing my friends and myself. Anyways, may the Lord work this weekend.
Published on Apr 18, 2008 at 11:22 am.
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Oh, Where To Live
I know that many of you who have applied to Covenant will be starting your housing forms soon if you haven’t already. The forms can be a bit stressful as you try and decide what next year is going to look like. Do you want to live in a 2 person room or a 4 person room, do you want to live in Andreas or Founders, etc. If any of you are like me I was no able to come and visit Covenant before I got here and really had no idea what to do with the housing form so I thought hat I would give a little bit of an overview of dorms and room-mates in hopes to help you guys out a little. (more…)
Published on Apr 13, 2008 at 7:07 am.
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Filed under More about Covenant College.
No Longer A Teenager
Tuesday was my birthday! It was especially nice because all classes were cancelled because of assessment day. I mean you just can’t ask for more. Well, I felt the need to be productive because it was a day off of school and I am crazy busy with papers and projects right now. So I decided to take advantage of the day and instead of sleeping in I woke up early to start on schoolwork. I had spent the night in a friends dorm and when I walked out to go back to my room I found a trail of papers saying, “Happy Birthday Sheryce,” all the way to the elevator. At the end of the trail was a note that said, “Scavenger Hunt Starts Here.” I found an envelope with my first clue. As I continued to my room I went down the elevator and outside. The moment I stepped outside, “Happy Birthday Sheryce,” was written in Chalk. All the way back up to my dorm my friends had written all over the sidewalk wishing me Happy Birthday. All I could do was laugh the whole way.
I was happy to get a paper written, and then it was off to finish the scavenger hunt. The clues were so hard…they definitely did not make me feel as smart as a 20 year old. I took a moment out of my scavenger hunt to have coffee with a friend. Oh my goodness it was a beautiful day so we decided to take a walk. I can’t remember when I took such a nice walk. After coffee I went back and got ready, some of my friends were taking me out to dinner. We went to a Mexican restaurant, which is my favorite type of food. Wow, was it good! We then wen to P.F. Chengs for some of my favorite desert. After dinner we all went back to campus and I had one more clue which led me to my presents.
I definitely was not expecting such a great day. Friends have a way of always making you feel special. Just thought I would share.
Published on Apr 12, 2008 at 6:49 am.
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Rain Rain Go Away!
Rain Rain Go Away! Yah, Yah I know April Showers bring May flowers but I’m sick of it. Lately it seems that the rain doesn’t stop, and when it does it warms up just enough to tempt us of warm summer days and then here comes the rain again. As I sit here writing this I have seen the start of yet another rain storm. Today it was 76 on the mountain, I thought I was in heaven and as the day went on the clouds just got Darker and Darker! And now I look outside to see it pouring. I looked on the weather too see what the forecast was going to be for the next couple of days, yep it’s deffinately going to get cold again. Bummer! Anyways, life on the mountain…or I guess it’s life anywhere. But just wanted you to know I’m dreaming of summer and it should be up here on the mountain soon!
Published on Apr 11, 2008 at 6:56 am.
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Spring Musical
Every year I look forward to the spring musical here at Covenant. Students and faculty have been working on the play since last fall and these past to weekends it has finally been in production. This year’s musical was Guys and Dolls. The actors were great, the actresses were great, and the singing was superb. Once again I sat in awe listening and watching the talent we have here at Covenant. The entire play kept me laughing or enthralled with the singing. Another thing I love about our musicals is that not only is it a chance for those student’s talented in vocals to perform but also our orchestra. The orchestra really made the play. If any of you are talented in singing or acting I would encourage any of you to try out for the spring musical, it is always just amazing!
Published on Apr 6, 2008 at 6:53 am.
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Filed under Happenings on Campus.
O-team Again!
I’m on O-team again and boy am I excited. This weekend was training and boy was it full of energy and excitement for next year. I love when all the Orientation team members meet each other for the first time. We are all bursting with excitement and honestly cannot wait to meet the incoming freshmen. Thinking that we still have to make through all summer is agonizing. I’m ready to meet the new Covenant student now! Training this weekend though helped to refocus us and realize that we probably are going to need this summer for prayer and preparation. I don’t know how many of you who are reading this are going to be incoming freshman next year, but I want you to know that whoever you are-you will have been prayed over all summer by staff and other students. Start getting excited because we are! We can’t wait to meet you!
Published on Apr 5, 2008 at 9:50 am.
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Teaching In A Pluralistic Society
One of my most interesting classes I’m taking this semester is Teaching in a Pluralistic Society. We are learning how to teach a classroom filled with all sorts of cultures, races, backgrounds, etc. I went into the class thinking I pretty much knew everything. I had heard about the discrimination of Irish, blacks, women, etc. I soon found out though, that knowing these events and knowing how to teach students in light of these events are two completely different things. I always thought that race and culture were things best not to be addressed in the classroom, however Teaching in a Pluralistic Society has proved to me quite the opposite is best for classroom teaching. It is our responsibility as teachers to view each and every child as children ALL created in the image of Christ and therefore they must be shown love for that very reason. Race is something to be valued, appreciated, and noticed because it was a creation of God.
Today we went to a school that would put us, being white individuals, in the minority. As I observed the classroom I was in, I tried to soak in as many of the teacher’s methods as I could. They had been learning about Africa and had had a guest speaker who came in for three days to teach them about African music and dancing. The kids loved the lesson and it really seemed to catch their interest. In this classroom the white teacher, who was the only white in the classroom, was not afraid to talk about race. Because of her ability to talk about race she was able to love the students for who God had created them to be.
What a class though! Teaching in a Pluralistic Society has definitely been a challenging class. It has asked me the hard questions. However, through it’s challenges it has taught me better how love my students better through my teaching.
Published on Apr 4, 2008 at 10:09 am.
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