Haiti Earthquake Video Message

I watched this video today and wanted to share it with my friends who I know will pray! Please take about 6 minutes to learn how you can help Compassion International help the thousands of people effected by the earthquake in Haiti, not just with money but with the good news of Jesus Christ!

Haiti Earthquake Video Message

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Perhaps Some Random Thoughts on Modesty

Joy at Stay-at-Home Missionary has hosted a great Modest Fashion Week.  Following the Friday post, she invited people to link with their own posts about modesty.  Mine is a bit late, but I thought it would be good for me and hopefully helpful to other people if I wrote a little bit about my journey to learning about true modesty, that it begins in the heart and it puts other people first.

I attended Christian school all my life.  From kindergarten through my senior year of college, I had to abide by a dress code.  Most of the time that didn't really bother me, but sometimes it was just plain annoying, especially the older that I got.  It wasn't so much that I wanted to go out and buy and wear clothes that would have been terribly breaking the dress code, but I didn't like having someone tell me what I could and couldn't wear.

Then one time in college there was a special meeting for all the girls.  Apparently there had been more dress code violations as of late, and the faculty and staff were trying to address the issue.  For some reason that meeting has stuck in my memory while other more enjoyable and fun things from college have faded away.  The point of the meeting was to tell the girls how their dress habits effected the young men on campus.  

Plenty of people have discussed this area of the topic already, so I'm not going to go into detail. (If you do want to read more about this, here's a really good post I read.)  My point is that up to that time in my life, I had not thought about how I dressed effecting anyone but me.

And now a random transition--isn't this really about everything in the Christian life?  I am to grow from thinking about how X effects just me, and seeing how it helps me fulfill or break the greatest commandments:  1)Love God with all my being, and 2)Love my neighbor as myself.

Ouch.  I don't think that I do this very well.  In my dress I hope that I'm doing all right.  Though when you have to wear this 7-8 months of the year, modesty when outdoors isn't always a problem. :)

But in my dress, in my conduct am I emptying CristyLynn of CristyLynn and being filled with the Spirit and having the mind of Christ?

I once heard a woman say that "a woman's clothes are her only way of truly expressing herself".  Perhaps then a woman's wardrobe is a really good place for a Christian woman to begin expressing who she is by dressing modestly and remembering that she at all times represents Christ and not herself.

Short and random thoughts, but hopefully helpful to someone.

Modest Fashion Week @ SAHMissionary

Hello, friends! I have another great online resource to share with you! I met Joy during the Titus 2 Blog Party. Her family is serving God in Indonesia. This post is a little later than I intended, but it's not too late to let you know about Modest Fashion Week that Joy is hosting on her blog. She's had and will have some great guest-posters this week. They are writing about some easy ways that we can be cute and modest in our dress. Check out the first post to download a great sermon by CJ Mahaney on modesty. She also has a link to some reading on the subject, which I hope to get to in the next few days as well.

And did you know that there are actually several design companies whose goal is to provide fashionable clothes while still dressing modestly! I had no idea! I've really enjoyed doing some window shopping on their websites. Several of the sites have some very affordable prices as well.

AND, you can also enter several giveaways on Joy's blog by going and leaving a comment. Personally, I would love to win one of those gift cards!

So go and check out Joy's Modest Fashion Week! I'm sure she also wouldn't mind if you check out the rest of her blog as well; she's got some great things to say!

Welcome to the Party

This might seem a little odd to those of you who regularly read my blog, especially since most of you are family ;), but I'm joining the Titus 2 party hosted over at She Looketh Well.  The first step to joining in on the fun was to invite friends, which I did; then you write a post about yourself and link to She Looketh Well so that people you don't know but are in on the party can come check out your blog.  It's a neat way to get to know some new people who probably have similar goals of following their biblical calling.

So, without further ado...

Welcome to Random Thoughts! 

My name is Cristy.  I am a wife and mother.  My family lives in St. Petersburg, Russia; which is always an adventure.

This is the place that helps me stay connected to my friends and family on the other side of the globe.  My hopes were to keep interested people updated on Isaiah's growth and development, what life is like in Russia and how our ministry here is progressing.  I think that I predominantly write about Isaiah, however. :)  He does occupy most of my time, which is tons of fun!

My heart is to serve my Lord by following the calling that He has given me by first being a godly wife and mother to my husband and child (soon to be children!).  Where that takes place is rather inconsequential to me, though I do love that God has called us as a family to Russia.

We're all learning Russian, my husband and I through formal lessons, and Isaiah (only 3) through playdates and time with our Russian friends.  He'll probably end up speaking Russian better than either my husband or me!  Learning Russian has actually taught me a lot more about myself than I thought I could learn in a year and a half.  It's a humbling experience which has brought me closer to God and to my husband.

So, I'm not sure how much more to say.  If you would like to know more about our family specifically, there is a link on the sidebar with a picture of the 3 of us in an igloo.  Feel free to check that out, too, if you have time. :)

I'm going to go meet some more bloggers now!

It's a Party

A little while ago, I discovered At The Well, a site for women who want to learn how to fulfill their biblical calling to follow Christ.  I have been challenged and encouraged by the posts that women have written on this site.

Well, someone has decided that it's time to throw a party!  I saw the link on At the Well, but it's actually being hosted on this site:  She Looketh Well.  The general idea is to help connect Christian women through the world of blogdom in hopes of bringing encouragement and building friendships.

Now I'm not a huge party person, but I must say that I've enjoyed and benefitted greatly from connections that I have made online with other women seeking to serve the Lord.  Being so far from home and regular times of accountability and encouragement with women in my own heart language who have similar goals, I have grasped on to chances of learning and fellowship in the blog setting.  I, who used to scoff at bloggers and wonder what all the fuss was about, have become excited about checking different blogs around the world!

So, here's my first step to join the party:  I'm inviting you, my blogging friends to come, too!  To see all the details, check out She Looketh Well; and then join the fun!