BEING TRANSFORMED #4: We're In This Together, Right?

Hel-o-o-o, Mini-Women! You're being your usual wonderful selves with your sharing in comments and I'm going to get to those just as soon as soon as we get those prayer requests out there. We have some MAJOR things to pray about this time, GIA Agents, so get your knees ready. Your fellow Agents have asked you to pray for:

The new boy in BAYLEE's class who's being bullied because people are jealous of him. When will people get a clue, you know? Also for BAYLEE and her mom who just found out they have head lice. I am SO sorry!

BETH, who is (well, I guess you already went at this point!) going on a retreat with three girls, two of whom don't get along. Let us know how it went, Beth. I'm sure the girls who read your comment were praying for you.

CASEY who wants to stop this whole competition thing in dance.

EMMA whose mom is applying for a new job. Of course we'll keep praying for all the friends you've mentioned to us who are sick. Always. And we'll also pray that the whole issue of having to move will be resolved God's way. How's that?

ANNABELLA'S brother who has a lot of health issues going on. We'll also pray that he realizes God is there for him.

BROOKE who has a sickness going around in her neighborhood.

GRACE whose family is going through some storms (well put) and for her friend who needs some other friends as well, in addition to Grace.

CHANTEY who has a cold she can't shake.

MARY -- big time praise because she has won a poetry contest! Her work is going to be on the state radio. Woo-HOO, Mary! So proud of you!

ABIGAIL - thanksgiving because the first FaithGirlz meeting went so well. She also needs prayer to get her science project done -- that is going to be presented to the QUEEN! Yikes!

And speaking of moving, for LILIAN'S friend who has to move for the tenth time in 7 years.

Merciful God, please hear the prayers of your mini-women.

Now, back to Rachel and Leah and -- you. Seems like most of you have had some experience with that whole unhealthy competition thing and you get what kind of damage it can do. You've missed out on friendships that could've been awesome.  You've seen jealousy come into friendships you've cherished. You've gotten mad and fought. You've doubted your own talents. You've imagined your parents love your sibling more than you. You've watched people get stuck in the middle and you've been there yourself. 

So what do we do about it? You can't just say, "I'm not going to get jealous." That's like saying, "I will not cough" when you have a cold. If you have a cough, you do something about it. And there's something we can do about the jealousy that comes from unhealthy competition.

  BEING TRANSFORMED #4: We're In This Together, Right?"

    READ: Genesis 31:1-21 Again, that's a long passage, so if you just want to read the summary on p. 249 of THAT IS SO ME, you can do that. The basic point of the story is that Laban (Rachel and Leah's father) turned out to be even meaner than we thought. He tried to cheat Jacob (Rachel and Leah's husband, if you'll recall and the father of their, like bajillion kids) so God told Jacob to take his BIG family back to his own home country. Jacob was worried that Rachel and Leah would be upset about leaving their country and their dad -- especially since they had to sneak away in the dead of night and could be (unjustly) accused of stealing-- but finally -- FINALLY! -- the two girls agreed on something. They told Jacob they were behind him all the way. Then they had to work together to get out of there safely with their kids and their animals and, basically, their lives.

    PONDER THIS: For years Rachel and Leah had been competing for Jacob's love and attention by seeing who could give him the most kids -- and not just kids, but sons (for some ridiculous reason people thought boy children were more valuable back then -- when we all KNOW that girls rule . . . ).  What did it take for them to finally give that up? They had a reason to work together. They stopped competing and started co-operating. Huh. Go figure.

    TURN IT INWARD: So go back to that quiz you took a couple of posts ago, or just look at the situation you commented about this last time. What would it take for you to let go of that and work with the person you're jealous of or find yourself competing with? What would be more important than staying mad or being better? What would feel better than clinging to that's-not-fair? This might take some imagination , but remember, it took the fear of being separated from their husband and kids that turned Rachel and Leah around. Think big. 

    For example, let's say Susie and her sister Sally compete for their mom's attention. Their mom's birthday is coming up and they both want to get her a present that's more impressive than what the sister is going to get her, but neither one of them can afford it. What if they put their money together and buy mom one big ol' honkin present?

    TALK TO JESUS ABOUT IT. There is no way you're going to handle this alone. It goes too deep. So sit down with (or take a walk with or go for a bike ride with) our Lord and talk to him about this situation. Ask him for help in figuring out how you can co operate with this person instead of compete. Then ask him HOW you're going to get past your jealousy and your need to be the best. Ask him to show you who to talk to about it if that's what you need to do. Basically put the whole thing in his arms and see what he does with it. That is, after all, what he's there for . . .

    NOW -- Do it. Just do it. What do you have to lose, actually? It hss to turn out better than what you have going right now. If the person says, "Are you nuts? I'm not doing that!" all you have to say is, "Huh. I thought you were better than that," and walk away. But you're still no worse off than you were to begin with. Besides, I think you're going to be pleasantly surprised.

    SHARE: Tell us what a plan might be. If you discover something after you've discussed it with God, tell us that if you want to. And by all means, if you try something and it helps, let us know so we can celebrate. The whole point of this is not JUST to change the situation, but to begin to transform you. It's not a decision you make. It's the result of actions you take that you know are the BEST thing to do in God's eyes.

    I am WAY jazzed to find out what happens.

    I'm also jazzed to be giving away SOPHIE STEPS UP this month, so if you don't have that book you totally need to email me so I can get one off to you.

    Love you, Mini-Women!

 

Blessings,

Nancy Rue

Comments

[Amelia]

Praying and praising, but I have a prayer request: My stomach has been hurting to the point I can't keep my stomach in. Plus, it's stuck like a traffic jam. So please pray for it to regularize itself out. Thanks bunches!

God, I praise You for the work You've done: Mary's poetry that'll be on the radio, Abigail's meeting that went well, showing Yourself to all of us, and so much more. Please help the boy at Baylee's school, and also Baylee and her Mother's head lice. Please give peace to Beth's retreat, Annabella's brother, Grace's friends and family, Lilian, her friend, and everyone Lilian's friend knew, and to Abigail's science project that needs to get done. Please heal Chantey, Brooke, her family, and her neighborhood, and Emma's family. I also pray for Casey to be able to be more like You when it comes to dance and anything else that has unhealthy competition in it. I pray blessing over each and every individual Mini- and Grown-Woman on this great blog. Thank You for being our Daddy. Amen.

[AnnaRachael]

Hey Mrs Rue! this is a great one!!! I would love to have a copy of the Soaphie book. This made me think alot

[Amelia]

Ooh, I just realized something! You were referencing to Old Camel Knees James! Lol

[Casey]

can you girls help me with this one?
hay my mom sent you an e-mail for the book hope you got it.
praying.

[Amelia who is sorry she's commenting so much that she'll not comment this much anymore]

Casey- What kind of help?

[Baylee]

I never thought of it that way before but it makes sense. two people who never agree can work for a common goal together. I will be praying for everyone!!! (as always :))

[Amelia]

Do not gloat when your enemy falls;
when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice, (Proverbs 24:17 NIV)

Do not gloat when your enemy falls;
when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice, Do not say, "I'll do to them as they have done to me;
I'll pay them back for what they did." (Proverbs 24:17, 29 NIV)

Those are Bible verses I was reading and thought I'd share.

[Yoomin]

Please pray for me because I won my class spelling bee and now I have to go out to the national spelling bee in Jordan on March 13th. Please pray that I will be able to do my best. (BTW although I live in Jordan I'm South Korean.)

[Emma ♦♣☺♠☻♥◄☼►1♦♪♫]

Praying! Thank you! Thankyou God for life for this blog for everyone! I dont have the book but it is the 7 and i have not read the first one and ccant seem to find it at any libreay! ahh:) lol

[Katie]

praying for Everyone! I have a prayer request. Its kinda of hard to explain but would you please pray for my mom and my Uncle! My uncle has been going through a hard time and my mom really wants to help him but its just one of those situations that you just can't really help you just have to pray! And I loved the post Mrs. Rue. Defiantly doing a lot of thinking and praying.

[emma ;) xoxo]

Praying!!

[Grace]

Okay. Here it goes!
First, can you pray for my family still? And especially my dad who works sooooooo much for us. And also one of my friends mom is in the hospital, so can you pray for her?
Anyway, I love your prayer Amelia! Thnx!
I'll be praying! can you also please pray for my sister and me? thnx!
~Grace

[Emma ♦♣☺♠☻♥◄☼►1♦♪♫]

Praying !!!!! Praise! I got to gether with my really good frind today who is kindof hard to get together with and i had a really great time and for something to do with my family! Thank you Jesus!

[Lillian]

Praying for u Amelia! Please pray that I will get better grades in school in terrible at math!!!!!

[Brooklyn]

Hey, everyone! I am new here, and I used to be on the tween blog. I turned 13 a few weeks ago. (:

Oh wow. Nancy, you have no idea how much I needed this! I am on vacation right now, and I am the youngest. I have 3 older brothers (17, 19, 24) and a sister (22) who is married. I have felt so unhappy and left out over everything & ignored & frankly just JEALOUS especially over one brother.:/ Thank you so much for the wonderful post! I could use your prayers for the rest of my vacation because it has been hard, but, as hard as it is to admit it, I also really need to change my attitude. It affects everything, y'know.

Have a lovely day, ladies!<3

[Emma ♦♣☺♠☻♥◄☼►1♦♪♫]

um brook this is the tween blog. but welcome back i will pray for you.

[Emma ♦♣☺♠☻♥◄☼►1♦♪♫]

praying lillian

[Brooklyn]

Haha sorry, guys. I posted this on the wrong blog. Blond moment...:)

[Mary]

Hi, Annabella, no; my little sisters' names aren't Mikayla and Jaymie. I don't think that I'm the same person you know... :)

For the post; I think I'm going to suggest to my friend that we write a story together or continue something we've already started. Great way to combine talents! And, Mrs. Rue, you're spot on: there are so many things I've tried to do that no matter what I do, it doesn't work, because I'M trying to do it. Some things, only God can handle.

Abigail - that is immensely, immensely cool! Wow - the Queen of the Netherlands! This is sort of unrelated, but there's this one sub (substitute teacher) in my school, and he was in Europe in the US military after WWII (or something like that), and he was in, like, the soldier Olympics and his team won, and he got to shake the hand of that same queen you're presenting to! (Well, she was a princess then, but still.) Yeah... he likes to tell our classes tons of stories from his bygone days... :)

Prayer Request: my parents and I are doing high school registration forms for next year and I am sooo stressed; I'd like to do all the top classes and I could, but I still want to have a life and not be doing homework 24/7 and all. So please pray for wisdom and peace for all of us!

Praying, everybody! And thanks for the prayer, Amelia! And Annabella - AMAZING about your brother! So wonderful! :)

[Jesus Freak]

@Annabella Wow that's So great That ur brother accepted Jesus!! I'm sorry he's in pain! :(

@Abigail I hope everything goes (Or went) well with the queen. That's SOOOOO cool!

@Everyone who's sick or is getting sick So sorry being sick is not fun!! But I'm praying!!!

Praying for everyone else!!

The retreat was good. My 2 friends that don't get along barely didn't even talk to each other. But we all had so deep talks before bed and had fun and learned new things which is good.

Just the other day my little bro wanted to have a dance competition (IDK why) so I said yes but then I said you know what no I don't want to. He said "Why Sissy?" I said "Just because" And my mom kinda flashed me a smile. So whenever a competition with my siblings or whoever comes up I'm just gonna say let's not make it a competition let's just do the best we can and have fun.

Prayer Request: My older bro is going through some tough times. It's kinda hard to explain without giving it away but he's just going through some tough times. He's kinda running away from God. So It's hard for me and my family soooooo ya.

Praying ya'll!!

Wow sorry this is really long post!!

TTYLXOX

Beth:)