Tag Archives: gods girlies

My Dearest Daughter,

I snapped this picture of you yesterday knowing that it would be a busy day and I might not get the chance later. Yesterday was your first time to march in the parade with the band. It was also your first time to get a Homecoming mum, so it was kind of a special day. I know you weren't thrilled about having your picture made; selfies seem to be the only pictures you like to take lately.

I'm thinking that you subjected yourself to having your picture made because you had grace for your loving, overly excited mother who still wants to document your "firsts". -Either that, or you knew I was about to find out what happened to my iPod and you were hoping I would remember this small kindness you showed me; a sort of I'll grin and bear it, won't you too?

A little past 8:00 AM yesterday I read the letter you specified I read at that time. So. You spilled finger nail polish remover on my iPod and ruined it? And you let me know in a two page apology letter scheduled to be read while you were safe at school. Well-played. A little sneaky, but well-played.

I will say that I'm proud of the way you're taking responsibility for the effect of your accident. It's so easy to make a list of excuses of why it wasn't your fault. Or you could just convince me that it was an accident that should go unpunished. It was, after all, an accident.

It was unintentional like tripping, or spilling a drink, or forgetting an appointment, or locking your keys in your car. Accidents don't require an apology, but I'm glad you're mindful that they go a long way in reaching out to the person affected by your accident. Apologizing shows regret and concern. It doesn't insinuate intentionality. I know my iPod is ruined, but not due to some act of disobedience or disrespect.

Shocked at my handling this so well? I'm pretty shocked myself. I kept my cool, at least one other time, when your brother was about three. I'd just bought a dragonfly sun catcher. Hayden picked it up, dropped it, and it broke, just like that! From some well of wisdom, much deeper than my fickle but powerful emotions, I said, "It was just a thing; people are more important than things." I think you've heard me say that very phrase a number of times. Of course I'm probably saying it to you or your brother or sister. I forget to say it to myself sometimes.

Still we do best to take a good look at our blunders; thinking on how we might avoid them in the future-

like, say.... don't have an open container of nail polish remover near anything you don't want ruined

or always acknowledge that your keys are in your hands before you hit the lock button

Blunders are teachers.

Your letter showed me that you learned

that some messes can't be fixed

and that accidents can have effect on others; not just the one who made the mess.

You said you learned that you shouldn't "mistreat the privileges you're given" (by leaving the iPod by your bed).

and that offering to attempt to correct your mistake is always the right thing to do (even when the recipient of your offer seems unkind or unforgiving).

This was just an accident. And all this learning you've done leaves me with little to do in this situation. I think in the future, I'll just focus more on higher matters.

I'm putting in writing that I devote myself to attitudes and intentions (or lack thereof). I am telling myself that things are things; that messes and mistakes happen. And I'm reminding myself that even if a mess happens as a result of disobedience, I do best to focus on the attitude and not the mess.

God looks at the heart, and so should I.

Yesterday I'd lost an ipod. But I watched my daughter growing in maturity and beauty. I'd say I gained.

Thanks for giving me permission to share this. It's nice to learn from each other.

Everybody Needs a Place to Run to

Kristi Burden • 10 October, 2013

I woke up extra early this morning thinking about trees. Don't ask me why. And then my thinking about trees reminded me of a time without trees.

I attended West Texas A&M for a year of college. I was baffled at its flat, treeless landscape. I felt vulnerable there, out in the unprotected open.

I remember arriving with my parents, and unloading our suburban. We carried my clothes and other belongings up echoing flights of stairs. A tornado came through while my parents were there to move me in. We were caught unaware and had to park under an overpass while the sirens blared. But pass it did. And then they left.

That was a scary time.
Yes, the tornado, but also that entire year being subject to frightening new stuff. There were scary knowns and unknowns, like the unsupervised snake in the dorm hallway and the smell of incense used to cover up things I'd never been exposed to before. Then there was the girl who tried to shoplift at Gadzooks while I was with her at the mall until I promised her that I would tell the clerk. Let's not forget the first few fire alarms in the middle of the night that suggested there was a real fire (before I figured out they were pulled "for fun").

Jason was attending the same school, but football and my classes and job schedule kept us both busy. Still we traveled the grueling four-hundred miles home, dirty clothes in tow, every time we could. Because being home felt secure. It still feels that way.

Safe and inviting; it's a place where oak trees stand taller than my problems. It's a place I can always go to; a place where my father is.

I've lived on both sides of this vast state; and both places are far from the oak trees that overhang the place where I grew. It's hard to get back to that place I love so dearly; that safe and sound place I know. But it's at that home where I learned of a place I can always run to; a place to abide in fearful times and when danger is near. This place isn't identified through geographic coordinates. It can be ran to, by simply being small and still.

The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous runs into it and is safe. Proverbs 18:10

Grace Unplugged; A Mom and Daughter Review

Kristi Burden • 5 October, 2013

From Hallie's point of view:

Grace Unplugged was an amazing movie. From my point of view, it was about a girl who was tempted with everything in the world that seemed great. And she found out it wasn't all it seemed to be. It reminded me to keep thinking, that the world will try to show you what is good and convince you to do it. It also shows you that what God has in mind is always best for you.

From a Mom:

I can't think of a better way I could have spent last night. A friend had the great idea for a Mom/Daughter Girls' Night Out that consisted of Mexican food, laughter and tears. We even scored this life-size souvenir at the theater. I'm seeing a major Movie Night in the future.

Grace Unplugged

I saw the preview for this movie a couple of weeks ago. The movie is based on a true story of a pastor's family. This film is for any family with parents who want the best for their children and for children who are determined to find their way, their own way.

Grace is a good girl with unimaginable talent and a bright future. Her Dad, painfully similar to myself, tries to hem her in to the point of suffocation. It's clear that his intentions are from deep seeded love. He wants to preserve her innocence; to shield her from the world and from the consequences of wrong choices. What parent doesn't want to do that?

She's ready to bloom. She knows she has musical talent but feels her creativity is being squashed and unrecognized. She has a firm knowledge of right and wrong if only she had the opportunity to make her own choices. The spreading of her wings leads to a quick rise in fame. But the world is asking for more of her than her God-given talent. Rather than being filled to overflowing having more than she ever dreamed of, she finds herself empty and broken.

I love how this movie effectively shows the perspective of parents, who in undying love, work tirelessly to guide their children. It reminds us that children have to grow up. And as painful as it may be; part of that growing may just be outside our control. This movie is a great reminder that both parents and children have the same need; we just can't do without God's grace.

The music appealed to Hallie and I both which doesn't always happen. It was a "clap at the end" kind of movie; one where no one got out of their seats as the credits rolled because they knew they had seen the kind of movie that could impact conversation and relationships. Go see it!

Mustangs and Broken Earrings • 4 Comments

Kristi Burden • 4 October, 2013

We look in the mirror not believing what we've become

As a child we'd thought we be someone

We sell our dreams and potential so we can

live the life that "they" call grand

-Words of a twelve-year-old scholar who wears too much eye makeup, my own Hallie Burden. This is an excerpt from a poem she wrote the other night. Her words strike me with unfathomable force. "This" is what I've been trying to tell her.....And "this" is what I'm still trying to tell myself.

With big brown eyes and wild hair, Hallie at age six, was a mustang in spirit. She even tried to convince us that she was turning into a horse because she was starting to notice hair on her legs and arms and she "thought her neck was growing longer".

Her dreams of the future didn't include the words "trained" or "tamed" or becoming the best work horse.

But the "ideal" girl is what we all somehow become sold on. Too often we unwittingly pack up our simple enjoyment of life along with the Barbies and white drawing paper. We're told a grand life means trading in our individuality for a canned version of lady-ness. We drive our SUV's at dizzying speed to make the next appointment or practice. Our girls see us fret in front of the mirror when we view our slightly more plump figures or the small lines that have invited themselves underneath our tired eyes. Jills of all trades, we try to do it all, be it all, while the "us" God intended lies buried beneath the busy effort.

Just the other day, I looked at one of the pair of earrings I wear. And I saw irony at its best. The earrings are broken; both of them. Of course they didn't start out that way. A couple of weeks ago, at church I think, one of the silver scrolled circles went missing off of the earring in my right ear. Instead of trying to find the missing piece, I had Jason take the complete earring and break it to match the other. So now I have two broken earrings. And I wear them just as if being broken is fine and dandy.

I see women who are worn out and defeated; but still accepting of the heavy load society lays squarely on their shoulders. Already worn as I am, I tell myself that if they're ably and somewhat nobly spinning their physical and literal wheels, what am I but an incapable woman if I'm not doing the same. It doesn't seem to matter if I'm not designed to cook like they are or sing like they do. I don't seem to care if its purposeful and necessary to emulate their load. The world needs one more PTA mom, right? Regardless of the plans God has for me, I'm attracted to the "all women invited/losers need not apply" Rat Race and Super Woman contest that I hate.

And all the while I root for young girls; that they will be who God created them to be. I expect them to listen to the voices that tell them that they are enough. It's not all about making the grade, I expect my twelve and eight year old to know. I pray that my son chooses a girl that is all wrapped up in who God wants her to be. I want Hallie and Rylie to trust me when I tell them they don't need to be, or dress, or dance like someone else.

You're whole and loved as you, I tell them. And I smile.... wearing my broken earrings.

I feel it in my tired old bones and my made up face.

This is the assigned moment for Him to move into the center, while I slip off to the sidelines. John 3:30

Me, or "another her" isn't who my girls need to see. I want them to see Him and the over the top, unique, and fabulous plan he has for me, and for them.

Wheat Free Fruit Pizza

Kristi Burden • 28 September, 2013

Rylie has joined the likes of women from all over who adore the Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond. She comes on at the exact time that Rylie gets her shots on Mondays and Thursdays. Rylie has forgotten her fish tank friends at the clinic: T-Bob, Bob, Camo, Didi and then Bibi (Didi's love interest ). Since discovering the Pioneer Woman, she hasn't picked up the worn out copy of Green Eggs and Ham or tried to stick her good patient stickers on random strangers. She thinks we should try every recipe we see that the Pioneer Woman makes but this week's fruit pizza recipe, she says, had her drooling.

So today we tried it. And bonus! We made it wheat and gluten-free and it was still "eat every crumb" good.

Everybody was pleased, even Hayden who is in strong opposition to any altered form of bread/pastry product.

Here are a few non-fabulous iPhone pictures.

We've used Betty Crocker Gluten-Free products a few times. The chocolate cake mix (we made cupcakes) are awesome. But how could they not be slathered with chocolate icing. I used two boxes of sugar cookie mix.

It made nine huge cookies. I could have eaten the cookies just fine by themselves. Well, with a tall glass of milk.

Here is the recipe I used for the icing. It's only the three ingredients that I have bordered in pink so neatly for you. I couldn't find the Pioneer Woman's. I was impatient and snapped this screenshot of the first fruit pizza icing I could find. Then I strayed from the recipe anyway. I used powder sugar instead of sugar, because I wanted to.

I didn't realize until I started cutting fruit that I got a lot of red fruit. I don't think it mattered a whole lot except for visual purposes and I'm not usually too worried about that.

Here's the happy camper. I was going to take a picture of the other two, but one had food on their face, and the other was still in pajamas (at 4:30 in the afternoon).

Until next time. The dishes.....and the laundry are calling.

If you have a good wheat free recipe, share it please.

On Bullying; Be an Upstander

Kristi Burden • 28 September, 2013

I have been overwhelmed with grief for what I have seen in the news in the past month. Three young people across the nation, the youngest being a twelve-year-old girl, have ended their lives feeling that they couldn't suffer being bullied any longer. I know that these cases are of an extreme nature, but intimidation and tormenting abound. I feel the utmost urge, if nothing else to teach our children the value of kindness. I want them to be equipped with the knowledge of what God has to say about how we treat others. I want them to be reminded that showing God's love is a big deal, much more so than anything else we do. The following is a devotion that will be done with our pre-teen girls at our God's Girlies Event tomorrow. Read it, or don't, but please pray for the event. Pray that the girls would be open to hearing from God and that they would be willing to be agents of change.

Banishing Bullying

Do you know the lingo?

WORD BANK:

getting help victim bullying

bystander getting directly involved

upstander

-an aggressive intentional act or behavior that is carried out by an individual or group repeatedly over time against a victim who cannot easily defend themself ____________

-the target of bullying ____________

-everyone (in addition to the victim and bully) who is present during a bullying incident or is aware of an incident ____________

-goes against the tide to protect a victim from injustice____________

Bystanders can become upstanders by ____________ or ____________

Chances are you have played more than one of these roles through time. Maybe you have been a victim, bystander and upstander on different occasions. It could be that you have even participated in bullying. It's a good thing that God has something he lovingly says to each of us.

What God has to say to us about bullying

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth, but only such as is good for building up...... Ephesians 4:29

Bambi's bud Thumper learned right from his mama, "If you can't say sumpthin' nice, don't say...... nuthin' at all.

Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Psalm 34:13

Not only should you keep yourself from saying mean and untrue things, STAY AWAY from others who speak evil and untruth.

Oh the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers, But they delight in the law of the LORD meditating on it day and night. Psalm 1:1-2

Like our parents, He tells us more than once not to be a part, even as a bystander, of bad behavior. He tells us that our attention is better spent reading, thinking about and practicing what he tells us in His word.

Proverbs lists out "6 things God hates and seven things that are detestable. I know I don't want to be a part of anything like that.

haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community. Proverbs 6:16-19

You're probably thinking I've never busted somebody up to bleeding, but God puts blood-spilling right in the middle of lies, general trouble-making and a mean-spirited plan-making heart. You don't have to physically hurt someone to really hurt them.

And the King will answer them, Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. Matthew 25:40

Standing up for someone because you know it's what God wants you to do is an act of service to Him. It's a two-fer! You've come to the aid of the person being bullied and you've served God.

Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety. Proverbs 11:14

If you are safe to stand up to someone who is bullying, do so, but remember that there are adults that are nearby who want to help. Be a counselor or go get one.

And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. Luke 6:31

I can't think of a single sane person who would want to be bullied or a person who would want to be laughed at or have a crowd staring at them while they are being purposely humiliated. You'd want to be defended if it were you, so help out; be the person you'd want on your side in time of trouble.

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience, bearing with one another... Colossians 3:12

"Putting on" those characteristics my friends, I PROMISE YOU, is far more important than putting on your favorite jeans.

In all of these tribulations we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Romans 8:35

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5

The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. Proverbs 18:10

So do not fear for I am with you. Do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world. John 16:33

Life isn't always easy. Sometimes we find ourselves in a place where it never seems easy. This world is by no means a perfect place. That's why we do best to remember that God is our guide. He's our salvation; our protector, the one who forever and completely loves us. He will get us through the bad times if we trust in Him. Don't forget that he put people in your life, like your mom and dad and your grandparents or that special aunt or teacher. They're there to help you. But unlike God who knows all, sometimes you have to let them know what you're going through.

You're being prayed for. For the one who has behaved badly time and time again towards another person, Stop! Ask for God's forgiveness and for his help in being more kind. For the ones who stand by and laugh or do nothing at all, be mindful that it's always right to stand up. And for the one who suffers at the hand of people who have no understanding or concern for their actions, hang in there. Hang on to prayer and the words of God. You are loved more than you feel. God will help you through.

My Sunny-Yellow Barstools and Endurance

Kristi Burden • 23 September, 2013

Yellow- "Being the lightest hue of the spectrum, the color psychology of yellow is uplifting and illuminating, offering hope, happiness, cheerfulness, and fun" (empower-yourselfpsychology.com)

I'm a walking contradiction. My last post urged you to be a quitter because "some things are worth letting go". But I met two sunny-yellow bar stools last week that don't fit under that "let-them-go" category.

I have a shopping rule that I use frequently with myself and the kids. When you want something, not need but want it, it's a good idea to walk away from it and keep shopping. If you still want it later and have the money for it, then get it.

I waited for days.

Today I returned to Target to purchase the barstools eager to bring them to their forever home. I checked the price to make sure they were still on sale, one of the factors in my deciding to get them. They were still 25% off. Score!

I rolled my buggy up to the front and made friends with a lady behind me in the check-out line. Eyeing her daffodil yellow toilet and bath rugs I smiled, "Don't you just love yellow?". We chatted happily until I noticed my purchase ringing up at regular price. I assured the clerk that they were on sale to which she checked the sales ad.

To make a long story long, the sales ad didn't show the barstools being on sale. Another nice clerk went back to the chair section and confirmed that they weren't on sale.

I kept my smile and my cool, but I wasn't budging. I was sure the tag had said they were on sale. I asked permission to go look one more time at the tag I'd seen and also to check out some other barstools. The clerk followed. I was right. The tag matching my barstools were on sale.
I got my barstools on sale. The clerks, Target, the sunny lady behind me and I are all still friends. The end.

Almost.

I was so happy I worked up a spiritual application for you, increasing the value of my sunny-yellow barstool purchase.

Though my "sticking with it" was entirely for something fleshly, a mere thing, I was reminded of the importance of endurance concerning spiritual matters. And as I sit typing perched upon my four-legged ray of sunshine a couple of thoughts come to mind.

Sticking with it

1. The finish line doesn't always mean a win. There are those who play poorly before crossing the finish line. If I had made the clerk cry upon a bullying insistence or caused a big disturbance in the check-out line, it wouldn't have been worth the effort. I find myself being the most enduring when it comes to making sure someone knows I'm right. If I hurt someone just in effort to prove my validity, I'm not really accomplishing anything of value. Quit a race that's being run godlessly.

2. Make sure you're in the right race in the first place. Don't destroy yourself on a diet you don't need to be on or stay up until midnight with an aching, hunched back mopping a floor that can wait a day, or a week..... My lately prayer is that God would help me in choosing what I say yes to and in the things I respectfully decline. I need that help.

3. Be mindful that not all races are a short distance. I really envied my friend in Junior High. She ran all of the sprints. She was finished in seconds. I had to run the mile and two-mile. I wasn't fast. I. just. had. to keep......going. It wasn't easy, but that was the race I was meant to run.

4. There are some races you're forced to run. I've mentioned before that a "football" coach was in charge of our track team one Saturday way back when. He signed me up (at a whopping hundred pounds) for the shot-put and the four-hundred meter dash (Did I mention I wasn't fast?) I tried to pretend like I was asleep come time for the first and second call, but I ended up being forced to run a race I didn't want to run. I'm running some of those kinds of races now too.

More important than anything, for your races and the ones your friends face, pray the great words that come from Colossians 1:11

May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy.

And between your racing, may you find a nice yellow barstool like mine to rest on; a place where you find happiness and hope.

Live Above the World • 2 Comments

Kristi Burden • 14 September, 2013

The Lord is my strength and my shield ; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exhults, and with my song I give thanks to him. Psalm 28:7

The LORD is my strength

I've always said if I could choose a time period to live in, I'd choose to live in the pioneer times. I'd be happy in my simplicity with my log cabin and fresh-baked bread. I'd look good in a bun and no make-up. Then again, in the pioneer days there would be no Google to search for the definition of the word 'docent' or 'cicerone'. I wouldn't be able to find a recipe by typing the words 'tomato, feta and avocado' into my phone.

And I wouldn't be able to search for the answer to questions like "Why do birds perch on power lines?".

I actually did that.

The other day I was feeling overwhelmed (surprise, surprise... I stay in a constant state of some degree of overwhelmance /made up word alert/).

As I was racing to the car I spotted a group of birds situated on the line in our backyard. I've seen them there a hundred times.

I envy those birds; their being so stable,

unmoved by all the world hurrying around them

They're unafraid of falling, those birds.

They know.......I mean they really know they have no better place to be than on those heights; it's the place where their grasp is firm.

I jumped in the car and did a quick google search "Why do birds perch on power lines?" hoping that I might find an answer; anticipating that God might have carefully situated nature once more to teach me something.

Here's what I found:

Many birds like a view from the highest vantage point possible...., said Miyoko Chu, director of communications for the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology....

Call me simple-minded, but a bird's eye view is just what I need.

I need a place where I am not overcome by appointments and my unchecked list of obligations.

A place where I can be still, even when I have to keep moving.

I want to be in that place where I can survive things gone wrong

like a sticky kitchen floor from spilled mandarin oranges

or sick kids and one kid that I had a big fat blow out with

A place above difficult circumstances.

I need my own powerline.

I'm glad to be reminded that I have one. God kindly tucked it deep within me so it might be with me wherever I go, whatever may befall me........... Makes me think of a song.

My heart has no desire to stay

Where doubts arise and fears dismay

Though some may dwell where these abound

My prayer my aim is higher ground

I want to live above the world

Though Satan's darts at me are hurled

For faith has caught the joyful sound

The song of saints on higher ground

(Higher Ground)

The power to live beyond the mess is within us.

On second thought, the pioneer days didn't have google, power lines or this hymn that's got me humming again. I'll take today... and I'll be thankful for my vantage point.

Birthdays, Bowling and Borders • 3 Comments

Kristi Burden • 8 September, 2013

Well we survived another birthday party. I'm not talking the benign kind; you know where the grandparents come and there's cake with candles and singing and a couple of presents, and then the adults have coffee and visit? I like those kind.

This was another kind. Rylie recently brought it to my attention that she's never had a "friend party". I've found a perfectly good excuse for her to not have one every year.

She's the third kid. I've learned from her older siblings that friend parties can be nightmares.

Pandora's box is always one of the things unwrapped and opened at the parties I've had for the kids. Things have been broken. Stuff has been spilled..... including tears. I remember one party sitting catatonic in the middle of the floor while the children ran around in a circle and threw bits and pieces of wrapping paper in the air in some sort of frightening sacrifice ritual. Another time (a slumber party gone wrong) a sandwich of some sort (slathered in ketchup and ranch, topped with pickles and cheese slices) was built in my underclothes that were heisted from my room. I have a picture of it, but I'll spare you.

(Sigh.) Memories.

Rylie had her "friend party" at Max Bowl Saturday.

I just knew her birthday cake was some sort of bad omen. I'd grabbed it at HEB. I told the lady behind the counter (who did not ask) twice how to spell Rylie's name....... She still spelled it wrong. However she let me know it was no big deal as she scraped off the incorrect letters and squirted nice, thick purple letters to disguise the error. Hours later the icing on two sides of the cake wilted, looking somewhat like a landslide.

But we carried on.

Jason wanted to turn around and go home when we had a hard time finding a parking spot at the bowling alley. I'm pretty sure the inside was crowded too, but I could barely see a thing- except for red and green laser twinkles and whatever fluoresced with the black light.

I was terrified that a kid in my care was going to get lost or snatched. There were a couple of times that a kid would try to wander over to the arcade. I'd bring them back. I guess it's the teacher in me, but I pretty much did a headcount over and over the whole time we were there.

I drew imaginary lines for them at the border of our bowling lanes much like an air traffic controller and told them to stay inside them. I even dangled the $5 arcade cards literally over the heads of the two escapees as an encouragement to stay put. I was a total party pooper.

I hemmed them in.

I do a lot of hemming.

I hem myself in too; tight, like the shirt that I attempted to put on the day before yesterday that got stuck at my shoulders (I love that shirt, but it's too binding). I hem myself in to where there's no freedom, only security with fear of what exists beyond my safe place (Is that really security)?

I have no business hemming really. I can't even sew on a button.

We survived the party, and good news, nobody was hurt and no tears were shed. I've returned to the world where I do my best to control my surroundings; my personal Gilligan's Island. Still, with certainty life will throw me curve balls tomorrow that force me to step outside my safe borders.

On all occasions it does me good to remember that there's a master seamster:

Waiting on texts from your teenager to assure you he's ok

New opportunities; ones you aren't sure you can handle

In the mystery and in the scared-known, we can rest assured:

⁵You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. ⁶Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

⁷Where can I go from your Spirit?  Where can I flee from your presence?

⁸If I go up to the heavens, you are there;  if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

⁹If I rise on the wings of the dawn,  if I settle on the far side of the sea, ¹⁰even there your hand will guide me,  your right hand will hold me fast.

Psalm 139

As we run in circles

In our wandering off

and stealing away

Beyond the safely defined borders

Into the unknown

He is there.

An Open Letter to Duck Dynasty’s Sadie Robertson, • 6 Comments

Kristi Burden • 3 September, 2013

It seems lately that letters have become a popular way to express our feelings about public figures. In the past few weeks I've seen letters addressed to Miley Cyrus and her dance partner Robin Thicke which aired grievance toward their lewd public display at the VMA's. I don't keep up with football, but apparently Johhny ("Football") Manziel has committed what ESPN has referred to as "inexcusable antics" and has become the subject of a few "what not to be like" posts. These public letters are addressed to pop icons who will never read the words so carefully typed out. They will be read by those of us who watch from the sidelines, those of us with impressionable children and grandchildren.

These letters use people in the public eye (who we can hardly ignore) to remind us how depraved we are without God as our guide, which is great. But it kind of stinks that it's the undesirable behavior that's getting so much attention. That's why I wanted to write a letter to you.

Dear Sadie,

I'm a huge fan of Duck Dynasty. Living next door to Louisiana, and having been raised in a small-town, I rather feel like you're my neighbor- or someone I'd want to be my neighbor. I love the idea of simple life that focuses on faith and family. I'm thrilled that your family's show has been such a big hit. I've been asked a dozen times which character on the show is my favorite. And I must say that I have a hard time saying because you all play such a special part. God is the coolest when it comes to our design. He purposes each person to bring something special to the "table" of life.

You though Sadie have caught my attention.

I've seen the video of you and your friend Kolby advertising your Monday segment "I am Different". Here's the link for anybody who hasn't:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=85nDCFuiBzA&fulldescription=1&client=mv-google&hl=en&guid=&gl=US

I love it that you're sharing that it's ok to follow God's view of living versus the world's view; the one we find on most reality shows and in everywhere else in the media.

I'm giddy that you're using God's word as one of authority instead of pointing girls to "what guys think or want" or even basing your words on your own opinion (you are famous after all).

I also noticed that you're coming out with your own collection of prom dresses. I love that you're not shying away from purity; you're rather bold with it.

This is SUCH a big deal.

I so admire you sitting on the porch swing (in the video) putting your faith out there, all the while being nervous knowing full well that it may draw criticism from those who think differently than you or simply from those who make a habit of bringing others down.

This is an altogether different thing than standing behind your parent's faith in hopes that the living out of their faith pretty much covers you too.

You're owning your faith. I like that.

There may be young girls out there that think this endeavor, and that your life in general, is easy. Afterall, you have money, fame and good looks to boot. But I know better. Life isn't easy. Life as a believer isn't always easy either, but life as a believer is one filled with hope and promise..

I just want to say that "this thing that you're doing" is worth it. I wish I had lived out my faith more boldly.

So to you and to every other girl out there:

I think I speak for all moms of faith when I say-

I can guarantee you'll not regret teenage years well-lived and God-centered. You will however, regret times when you base your decisions on fickle feelings instead of what you know is right. You will do some of both.

Know that I and thousands of moms are behind you. We're a part of "that cloud of witnesses" and we're on the sidelines cheering you on. We're over the moon excited to hear you talk about your relationship with Christ and of purity instead of things that won't matter next month when the calendar page is flipped.

We're praying for you; praying that God will guide you in your willingness to be a light. We're praying that your desire for Him will continue to grow.

We won't expect you to be perfect. We pray that you'll experience His endless, matchless grace when you do get out of step. We pray that the knowledge of that grace will help you get back into step without your wallowing in guilt or shame.

We pray..

-that on days when you feel ordinary, God would remind you that he has created you wonderfully with unique purpose

and on days when you feel extraordinary and maybe even a little self-absorbed (like we all do) that God would humble and overwhelm you by His greatness.

You have our prayer that in the busyness of life-when you're trying to do everything right- but you just feel tired, that you will remember to "Just be still and know that He is God"

He is God on bad hair days

And He's God on the days when it seems like the whole world is crashing down around you.

We pray that you will be surrounded by Godly influence and that even in your youth, that you'll be one too.

Our prayer is that you will be thankful for a family who has made God their first love. A depth of that knowledge will help you to trust them in tough times when you have disagreements.

Be confident when your plans don't pan out, that the plans God has for you are better than the ones you dreamed for yourself. I personally hope your Monday video views skyrocket.

God tells us in Hebrews 10:24

Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works......encouraging one another

There's a lot being "stirred up" these days. I just want to say thank you for what you're stirring up.

We thank you,

Kristi Burden

and a host of cheering fans