Week 1 Day 5: Choosing Accountability

I hope our first week together has helped you think about your first choices of the day. Please know I am praying for you and hope you have started choosing God first thing in the morning. Your teenage lives are so difficult and I do not want you to try to get through them without God.

I ask that you continue to start your day with God through the weekend. If you have not read all this weeks blog then please do so over the weekend. I do not want you to miss out on one part. These first choices will be crucial to all the other choices we will be discussing throughout the blog.

As we close out this week, I do have one more choice for you. I want you to choose to have someone hold you accountable. You can find a friend or I am more than happy to do it. It really helps having someone there to make sure you are choosing God, joy and appropriate clothing each day. Two is always better than one.

It is so easy with technology to hold each other accountable. A simple text in the morning saying, "Choose God," or "Choose a Clothes Check." Writing a note on a facebook wall is another easy accountability check. Simple reminders help us when life gets busy.

So today choose an accountability partner. If you do not trust your friends, I will do it. Just shoot me an email with your phone number or message me on Facebook.

I look forward to the next several weeks as we discuss more choices. Please let me know any topics you would like for me to cover. This is not my blog, it is ours.

This is my life, I choose...

As I brush my hair, to ask for forgiveness over my attitude and actions.
As I put in my eyes, I ask God to show me an accountability partner.
As I brush my teeth, I ask God to use my mouth to tell others about him.
As I get dressed, I clothe myself with the armor of God. (Don't forget clothes check)

"Two are better than one, because they have good return for their work; If one falls down his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up."

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

Week 1 Day 4; Your Attitude is Your Choice

If you have a test today, know there is drama waiting for you at school or if you are fighting with your parents, you probably have already chosen to be in a bad mood. And you may have a right to be mad. But does choosing to start our day in a bad mood do us any good?

It is a new day. You do not know if it is going to be a good or bad day. The bad parts of yesterday may be there today. But you and you alone have the choice of your attitude. You can choose to start your day as a grumpy bear ready to devour anyone and anything. Or you can choose to stop and realize how great God is and choose to start your day with a more joyful attitude.

Now stop right there. You are already trying to tell me why you have a right to have an attitude. I agree you have a right to be hurt or upset at some things. But you do not have to carry the attitude with you. You can choose to give the hurt, anger, frustrations to God and choose to focus on what God has done for you.

Here are some reasons you can choose joy this morning:

1. God gave you another day of life.
2. You have people like me who love and care about you.
3. You have clothes to wear.
4. You have food to eat.
5. You have a place to sleep.
6. God gave His Son to die for you so you may be forgiven.
7. God loves you even when you have attitude.
8. God chose you.
9. You are not living in Haiti in a tent hoping to get water today.
10. You are the apple of God's eye.

So whether you think your parents were so unfair yesterday or your siblings have it so much easier, choose joy. Even if you think your teacher is so stupid and is out to make your life miserable or you have to wear a school uniform today, I want you to choose joy this morning. You might just be surprised at the difference in your day if you start it focused on the good things instead of the bad.

What are you going to choose: misery, anger or the best option, joy?

It is my life, I choose...

1. as I brush out my hair to thank God for His Son so I may be forgiven.
2. as I brush my teeth I will thank God for all he has given me. (see list above if you need help.)
3. as I put in my contacts or eye makeup, I will ask God to help me see my blessings today.
4. as I get dressed, I will put on the armor of God and thank God that I am not alone on a bad day.

"Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days." Psalm 90:14

Week 1 Day 3: Morning Routine Choices

You will wake up in the morning. You will start making choices the minute you get up. You will decide to start your day with God or to be too busy for him. You will choose to fill your mind with music, TV or maybe just your thoughts. You will choose what you are going to wear and what to do with your hair. You will choose to eat or not to eat breakfast. Some of these choices have options and others are not an option.

The outfit you choose to wear is an option, but wearing clothes is not. The style of your hair is an option, but combing it is not. Choosing what to think about is an option, having no thoughts as a teenager girl is usually not an option. How you start your day with God is an option, starting your day with God should not be option.

So we do not need to choose if we should start our day with God, but how are we going to start our day. We do not need to choose if we are going to wear clothes, but if what we are wearing is appropriate. We do not need to choose to have thoughts, but what will be our first thoughts in the morning.

In the morning, you will get dressed. You will comb your hair. You will choose God. You will fill your mind with things of God. It all has to be part of your morning routine. And why would you not make God, the most important thing in your life, part of your morning routine?

I know as teenagers, you barely can get yourself out of bed and probably rush around just getting out the door in time. But I want you to realize how important it is to choose God as your focus first thing.

God, your Savior, father and friend, is there when you wake up. He is there to take your burdens, heal your hurts, forgive your not so smart choices and to love you. Your best friend wants to start your day with you. Why not choose to start your day with Him?

As I said in day one, set your phone to remind you the minute you get up. Write your scripture (see day one for this weeks) on your mirror. And use the steps below. It will not take anymore time.

It is my life, I choose to

As you brush your hair, ask God to forgive you for your not so smart choices.
As you brush teeth, thank God for all He has done for you.
As you put in contacts (eye makeup), ask God to help you see those who need His love.
As you get dressed, cloth yourself in the armor of God. (should be on your mirror this week)
Do not forget to do your clothes check.

Week 1 Day 2: Choosing to do a Clothes check

This week we are looking at our choices we make first thing in the morning. Our first choice always needs to be and should be God. I hope you have already set your phone to remind you when you wake up to choose God.

Today I want to talk about choosing what we wear. Now for those of you who know me, you know I like to look cute and stylish. I know I feel better when I feel I look cute. But there are choices we need to make when we get dressed. We need to make sure we are still honoring God. And sometimes it is after we leave our house we realize our shirt likes to rise in the back or hangs to low when we bend over. Or maybe we do not realize that our cute low rise pants make us flash everybody when we sit. So how do we choose to look cute but still glorify God? And does our appearance matter?

While God does not want our focus to be our appearance, we want to make sure our appearance is not a stumbling block to others or a distraction in His plans for us. When Mr. Sam was a teenager, he became very frustrated with the girls in his youth group. Their outfits were revealing so much, he was having trouble focusing on God. We do not want to cause others to lose focus or send a false message about ourselves.

God cares more about inner beauty, but choosing to do this quick clothing check can help your appearance not be a distraction or stumbling block.

Clothing Check Test:

Shirt- if you see cleavage, you cannot wear it.

1. You can also bend over and hang your arms down. Check to see if you can see down your shirt when you do. If you do not check, some boy will.


2. Raise you arms up to see if you show belly or more.

Pants- no underwear should show

1. Get you mom or sister to stand behind you. Bend over and touch your toes. Let them see if you show undies or more.


2. Also squat down and do the same check.

Skirt and shorts- nothing shorter than fingertip length

1. Sit criss cross applesauce and make sure you cannot see too much.


2. Spin around in a skirt. If it goes up then you need to wear something underneath in case the wind blows.

*If most of your shirts and pants expose to much, I would choose some long under tanks to help cover up.

Choose to check your clothes before you leave the house. At first glance everything may seem fine, but by the time you get to school you may be exposing more than you should want to expose. And even if you think no boys are looking, some one will.

Today for my life, I choose:

1. God. (read your verse on mirror)


2. As I brush my hair for God to forgive me for not always bringing honor to Him with my appearance and causing others to stumble.


3. As I brush my teeth for God to use my mouth to share His love.


4. As I put on my eyes for God to open them to see the importance of inner beauty.


5. As I get dressed, I clothe myself in the armor of God.


6. As I get ready for school, I fill my mind and heart with His praises.

Week 1 Day 1: You Are Making Choices in the Morning

This morning you woke up and made choices. You chose what to wear, what to eat, what to do with your hair. You also made other choices whether you realize it or not. You chose to start your day with or without God. You probably chose to fill your mind with some type of music. All of those choices are going to effect the rest of your day. So do you know what choices you need to make? This week we are going to look at the choices we make first thing in the morning.

The first choice we are going to look at is choosing to start your day with God. I know you know you need to do it. But I want you not just to know but to choose to start your day with God. It is very important to all the other choices you will make today. If you do not start your day with God, you might forget to use Him in the other choices you make.

I am going to make this simple for you. We are going to choose to put God in our morning routine. I want you to choose to be with God because your teenage years are not easy. The choices you face everyday can be a challenge. Temptation is all around you even at school. I do not want you to have to face these challenges alone. I want you to know God on a personal level so you will know how to rely and depend on Him in all your choices.

So starting today, you are going to choose God first thing in the morning.

1. Choose to set a reminder on your phone.
I know you look at your phone first thing. So why not use it to remind you to choose God. Set a daily reminder to go off at the time you get up that says, "Choose God."

2. Choose to put a scripture on your mirror for the week. (this week Eph. 6:14-17)
I know you will probably not get up to read your bible every morning. So we are going to choose to put a verse on our mirror each week so we are starting our day in His word.

3. Choose to fill your mind with things of God.
Some of you play music to get you going. You may listen to music on the way to school. I am asking you to not listen to the latest hits, but to listen to some Christian music. It can be praise and worship or one the latest Christian groups you enjoy. But fill your mind with positive things. It will be much better to have a song about our wonderful God stuck in your head than any other pop song. Please choose to trust me on this one.

4. Choose to make your normal routine include God.
*As you brush out your tangles: Ask God to forgive and cleanse you from your sins. Just like you have to get the tangles out of your hair, you need to start your day forgiven.
* As you put in contacts or put on eyeshadow: ask God to help you see others through His eyes not the world's eyes.
* As you brush your teeth: Ask God to speak words of love and truth through you and not to let your mouth condemn others or gossip.
* As you get dressed: Clothe yourself with the armor of God. You need to be prepared for the battle.

These are small steps, but these are little choices that will help you start your relationship with God. And as long as you continue not to choose God first, all the other choices will be hard. So let's choose to put God, who loves us so much, first in our day.