Use Your Body the Way God Designed It by Whitney Hopler

Our culture is constantly bombarding women with messages that tell them their appearance is what matters most. But God made bodies for much more than simply being viewed. Bodies are meant to be used in all sorts of wonderful ways to love God and other people.
As a woman, it's freeing to look beyond our culture's shallow view of your body and start using your body the way God designed it.

Here's how:
Replace lies with the truth. Recognize that the pressure you feel to conform to a certain image of what our culture considers beautiful is based on the lie that you're not valuable unless you look a certain way. Replace that lie with the biblical truth that your value isn't based on your appearance, but on the fact that you're one of God's beloved creations. Stop striving to make your body appear a certain way, and rest in the knowledge that God is willing to bless you no matter what your body looks like. Embrace the truth that you're worthy simply because God says you are.

Accept your body in its natural state. Don't worry about the ways your body might not fit our culture's standard of beauty - from a nose that's too big to breasts that are too small. Instead, embrace the fact that God sees every person He has created as good and accept the natural way He has made your body rather than trying to change it to fit a cultural standard. Let the way you express yourself through your body - the way you dress and carry yourself with posture and mannerism - send others the message that you really like who God has made you to be.
Overcome temptations with trust. You can overcome your body's struggles with cravings and addictions by trusting God to satisfy your needs instead of trying to use quick fixes to try to satisfy them yourself. Realize that nothing you do to your body - from eating sweets or drinking alcohol to try to find peace during stress to dieting to try to feel loved because you're thin - will ultimately fulfill you. Only God has the power to truly satisfy your needs, so turn to Him through prayer when you feel tempted to seek fulfillment through your body.
Stop judging. Be aware of judgmental thoughts that enter your mind when you see people who don't fit our culture's idea of what's attractive. Stop them by reminding yourself not to assign people a value that's any less than the value God has assigned them. Ask God to give you the confidence to make decisions free from the pressure of considering what other people will think of you.

Say "enough is enough." Resist the temptation to satisfy every bodily impulse the way our culture pushes you to do, from eating unhealthy snacks you don't need to buying extra clothes on impulse. As you break free of gluttonous consumption, you'll also break free from a crippling preoccupation with yourself. Then you'll notice other people's needs more often, and be able to respond to them by sharing what you have.

Embrace uniqueness. Stop trying to fit yourself and other people into our culture's mold of what's considered beautiful. Instead, thank God that He didn't create us all the same and ask Him to help you recognize and appreciate distinctive qualities in yourself and in others you meet. Realize that God made people unique because they're worth recognizing.

Look beyond appearance to function. Remember that God's purpose for your body isn't to appear attractive to others; it's to perform useful functions that help you love Him and others. So rather than worrying about what your legs look like, use them to kneel in prayer often, and instead of comparing your hands to someone else with graceful fingers and manicured nails, use your hands to do volunteer work to help others in your community.

Be marked by love. Jesus' body was marked by love because He used it to perform loving actions in the world - including the ultimate loving act, dying on the Cross to save people, which physically marked His body with scars. As one of Jesus' followers, do all you can to mark your own body with love, from giving blood or even an organ like a kidney to someone in need, to cutting your hair to be used for wigs for cancer patients who are going through chemotherapy. A lifestyle of self-giving love will transform you more and more into Jesus' likeness, so that others will recognize Him through your life and be drawn to Him.

Touch others with love. Use your body to express love to others through physical touch whenever you can, from hugging a friend to carrying your kids to bed. Use your facial expression to show others unconditional love and acceptance.


Age with grace. Don't fight the aging process that naturally causes your body to become frail and your hair to turn gray. Instead of trying to hold onto fleeting physical beauty, turn your attention away from yourself and toward others - and in the process, you'll find that God will meet your need for love more than you could ever get it met through looking beautiful.
Exercise wisely. Rather than exercising simply to look good, exercise in order to express love for God and others. For example, run around a park with a single mother's children to give her a break and enjoy God's creation instead of just running on a treadmill by yourself in a gym.
Eat wisely. Millions of people struggle with obesity, while millions more struggle with hunger. Ask God to help you keep a sense of justice in mind when you decide what and how much to eat every day. Don't buy food you don't need, and don't eat when you're not hungry.
Dress wisely. Choose clothes that are modest so you don't invite others to disrespect your body. Instead of buying new clothes every new season, buy clothes only when you need them and buy used clothing whenever you can, to avoid wasting too much money on clothes.
Find a body buddy. Get together with a friend each week to encourage, support, and hold each other accountable in a mutual quest to use your bodies in healthy ways that please God.
Adapted from Unsqueezed: Springing Free from Skinny Jeans, Nose Jobs, Highlights, and Stilettos, copyright 2010 by Margot Starbuck. Published by IVP Books, a division of InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Ill., www.ivpress.com.
Margot Starbuck is a popular speaker at conferences and retreats and on college campuses. She has an M.Div. from Princeton Seminary and is also the author of The Girl in the Orange Dress: Searching for a Father Who Does Not Fail (InterVarsity Press, 2009).

Sixteen Steps to Build a Campfire

1. Split dead limb into fragments and shave one fragment into slivers.
2. Bandage left thumb.
3. Chop other fragments into smaller fragments
4. Bandage left foot.
5. Make structure of slivers (include those embedded in hand)
6. Light Match
7. Light Match
8. Repeat "a Scout is cheerful" and light match.
9. Apply match to slivers, add wood fragments, and blow gently into base of fire.
10. Apply burn ointment to nose.
11. When fire is burning, collect more wood.
12. Upon discovering that fire has gone out while out searching for more wood, soak wood from can labeled "kerosene."
13. Treat face and arms for second-degree burns.
14. Relabel can to read "gasoline."
15. When fire is burning well, add all remaining firewood.
16. When thunder storm has passed, repeat steps.

Britains Got Talent 2009 - Stavros Flatly - Greek Irish Dancers

This is one cool father son dancing , Dimitrios and Lagi a father and son act perform on Britains Got Talent. Watch them dance here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gHvATmUsSg

Leadership: Prepare Your People for the Future

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Ephesians 6:10-11

Like any good leader, Paul issues a warning at the end of his letter about the tough times his people will face. They are up against Satan himself, an enemy who will do everything to stop their progress.

Instead of moping about the situation, however, Paul lays out a specific plan for his Ephesian friends. They are not to approach this fight in their own strength, but remember that only God can defeat the enemy. Paul then instructs his readers to put on the whole armor of God, in order to stand and prevail. Serving as an officer under God, Paul issues the orders for the troops.

When leaders practice the Law of Intuition, they provide their people with:

• A strategy to win.
• Knowledge of the opposition.
• The resources they need.
• A plan for how to use them.
• Detailed communication.

Wonderful Street Dance

wow!! these are some awesome street dance :O




very amazing!!! anyone who are these dancers??

Tips to Speed up your Blog at Blogspot

Here's some interesting tips to speed up ur blog from Google Bloger tips :)

How can I make my blog load faster?

The speed at which your blog loads is critical to attracting more readers to your blog. If your blog takes a long time to load, many readers may leave your blog before they have the chance to read it. Here are a few tips and tricks that will help your blog load faster and attract more users:

Posts

Your blog's load time can be affected by the number of posts you display on your main page. You can easily edit the number of posts displayed of the main page from the Settings | Formatting tab. You can then select the number of posts you want to display on the main page. We recommend displaying 10 or fewer posts on the main page.

Third Party JavaScript and Links

For optimal blog load speed, we recommend using Google/Blogger widgets, JavaScipt and links. However, if you need to use third party JavaScipt and links, your blog will load much faster if you put all JavaScript at the bottom of your blog. If you have third party JavaScript and links in your sidebar, put them in at the bottom of the sidebar.

Images and Media

The more images, videos and other multi-media you have on your blog the longer it will take to load. However, images and other multimedia are important to attracting users to your blog, so it is important to optimize the load speed of your images and media. Here are a few tips to increase the load speed of your media:

• Decrease the size of your images or use thumbnails that link to the full-size image.
• If you use third party images, consider uploading them to Picasa Web Albums via the Blogger post editor.
• If you have a large number of images to display, you can upload all your images (from a vacation or event) to a Picasa Web Album and link to the album in your post or sidebar.

Other suggestions

• If you've added any custom CSS to your blog, make sure you put it at the top of the page.
• The most important content of your blog that catches readers attention should load the quickest. To help you identify which items are taking the longest to load you can use Stopwatch. To use Stopwatch, enter your blog's URL into the text box and click "Start StopWatch". Stopwatch will then open your blog in a frame and will record the time it takes for everything on your blog to load, including images, videos, widgets, etc. Take note of the items that take the longest to load and modify them appropriately using our suggestions.

Leadership : The Team Holds the Dream

Good-tempered leaders invigorate lives; they're like spring rain and sunshine. ~Proverbs 16:15 (The Message)

One of the mistakes people make is that they focus too much attention on their dream and too little on their team. But the truth is that if you build the right team, the dream will almost take care of itself.

If you want to achieve your dream-I mean really do it, not just imagine what it would be like-then grow your team. But as you do so, make sure your motives are right. Some people gather a team just to benefit themselves. Others do it because they enjoy the team experience and want to create a sense of community. Still others do it because they want to build an organization. The funny thing about those reasons is that if you're motivated by all of them, then your desire to build a team probably comes from wanting to add value to everyone on the team. But if your desire to build the team comes as the result of only one of those reasons, you probably need to examine your motives.