Single! Young Christian Woman Jan/Feb 2013

single!

A P U B L I C AT I O N O F O N M Y O W N N O W M I N I S T R I E S

JAN/FEB '13

Young Christian Woman Most Accurate Horoscope EVER! Month-by-Month Plan to Better Financial Health

time to admit it:

Shaver Savers Hairless for Less!

Women Like Porn Too w w w. o n m y o w n n o w. c o m

Single!

Young Christian Woman Jan/Feb 2013, Vol. 5 On My Own Now Ministries, Inc., Publisher Donna Lee Schillinger, Editor Kimberly M. Schluterman Editorial Support Contributors Julie Ann , Sydney Clark, Bryan Hupperts, Tamara Jane, Thom Mollohan, Donna Lee Schillinger, Sheep Trax Ministries

Except where noted, content is copyright 2013 On My Own Now Ministries.

Articles may be reprinted with credit to author, Single! and www.OnMyOwnNow.com.

On My Own Now Ministries, Inc. is a nonprofit organization with a 501 (c) (3) determination. Your donations aid in our mission to encourage faith, wise life choices and Christ-likeness in young adults during their transition to living on their own.

We welcome submissions of original or repurposed articles that are contributed without expectation of compensation. May God repay you.

Visit us at www.OnMyOwnNow.com.

in this

issue...

Moving Out...Settling In And Topping My Bucket List Is...

by Thom Mollohan The Recap Did Isaiah Predict 9/11?

Book Review by Donna Lee Schillinger Spare Change Month-by-Month Plan to Better Financial Health

by Julie Ann Center Ring Time to Admit it: Women Like Porn Too

by Sydney Clark Fashion DIVinA Shaver Savers: Hairless for Less

by Tamara Jane Just What You Need Most Accurate Horoscope Ever

by Bryan Hupperts

.4 .6

.8 .10

.12 .15

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Yep. It’s that good. If you need more ammunition in the battle to remain pure until marriage, add this to your arsenal.

17 true stories about waiting for marriage to have sex, or not, and the consequences of that choice.

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moving out

And Topping My Bucket List is...

by Thom Mollohan, Guest Columnist

l

ive for Now!” shouts a roadside billboard with pictures of a top-contending soda. Every time I see it I feel a pang of astonishment and I immediately begin reflecting on the overall spirit of our age. Don’t misunderstand me: I’m not finding fault with that company in particular. Their marketing people have simply done what marketing people get paid to do; namely, finding a slogan that will so resonate with the advertising’s viewers that moves them to buy. A smart advertiser

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will come up with a motto which fully captures the deep-seated feelings, ambitions and drives within us.

What saddens me, however, is not the fact that this company used this slogan—I wonder why someone didn’t use it sooner—but how very successful it is likely to be. It says what we want to hear. It echoes what our urges compel us to do and it conveniently cloaks responsibility for the repercussions of living for the now. Why is it likely to be successful? Be-

settling In cause, the world says there may be no tomorrow.

Ever since the movie, the expression “bucket list” is in wide use. It is especially interesting that most things that end up on a bucket list are self-gratifying endeavors. People want to perform a particular stunt, try a particular kind of food or visit a particular place. The general idea seems to be that we’d better hurry up and do all the things we’ve ever thought we wanted to do in this life because the now is all we have. Fill it up with all the fun, pleasurable and selfcentered ambitions we’ve stored up for ourselves because there is nothing after the now to look forward.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with being adventurous, doing exciting things and rejoicing in God’s goodness.

These things are, after all, what motivated me to explore a jackal den when visiting a desert in the Middle East. But how many of us have things on our bucket lists that will make an impact in the hereafter?

I’m sure there are many factors that make our generations so receptive to the “Live for Now” slogan.

Many people have bought into the lie that “now” is all there is. Others are still worried about the off-thewall interpretation of the Mayan calendar—which would mean the world should already be gone by now and you wouldn’t be reading this. Or perhaps the movie “2012” set off too many morbid imaginings.

Whatever the case, many people do indeed believe that the only worthwhile pursuit in this life is to grab what we can, while we can, before we lose the chance.

But there is more to this life than the now. I believe the Bible’s claim that God will wrap up things in His way and in His time—He specifically said that no one else knows when that would be. I also believe that there is an eternity awaiting us and that this life has been given to us so that we can prepare for that next life. I even believe the Bible when it says that Jesus Christ is the only way to enter into that life.

For the disciple of Jesus, the motto cannot be to live for now, because doing so, focuses our window of eternal opportunity upon a moment that vanishes like smoke. For the disciple of Jesus, the only genuine motto is to “live for… ever”. Why? Because while the here and now is a fleeting moment, forever is…

well, a really, really long time. Just ask anybody.

Jesus discussed everlasting life on multiple occasions. He was an eyewitness to the wonders of heaven because He had originally come from there. He said that eternal life is, “that they know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3 ESV). Eternal life then is an endless abiding with God who is so incomparably vast and infinitely wonderful that awaiting us are pleasures and adventures and experiences so numerous that they cannot be counted and so beyond our imaginations that we could not possibly begin to describe them.

He also said that God loves those who live in this world and expressed it perfectly through the gift of His Son, Jesus, as a sacrifice to pay for our sin. By believing in Him we are given eternal life. We believe in Him by staking our hope and confidence so utterly upon Him that we forsake all our false hopes or idols as well as our living-for-now habits and selfish pursuits.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life… For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (John 3:16, Romans 6:23 ESV) Hopefully, you also see the short-sightedness of “live for now,” and are willing to settle for nothing less than “living for… ever” with God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Maybe we should make a bucket list with “live forever” at the top. What else should we put on that list? Maybe joining a fellowship of Christians. Maybe hosting a Bible study in your home. Maybe a mission trip or a tutoring program. Maybe helping the sick neighbor across the street. Maybe reconciling with a loved one.

And maybe, just maybe, skydiving… at least once.

For the disciple of Jesus, the only genuine motto is to "live for... ever."

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Thom Mollohan and his family have ministered in southern Ohio the past 17 years and is the author of The Fairy Tale Parables and Crimson Harvest.

He is the pastor of Pathway Community Church and may be reached for comments or questions by email at pastorthom@pathwaygallipolis.com.

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the the recap Recap

Did Isaiah Predict America’s Future?

Review

I

by

Donna Lee Schillinger

f the Mayan calendar piqued your interest, you might be interested in this meatier mystery, which is also far more likely. Conspiracy theorists, doomsdayers and prophecy aficionados will be able to sink their teeth into The Harbinger: The Ancient Mystery that Holds the Secret to America’s Future. Author Jonathan Cahn is a messianic Jew, which for some hard-to-articulate reason seems to add credibility to his fictitious expository of the non-fictitious premise that an

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ancient prophecy in the book of Isaiah is being fulfilled for a second time, this time in our own United States of America.

Written as a soft science-fiction mystery along the lines of National Treasure (with less action), Cahn’s writing style is so repetitive that I wondered several times if my cat was playing a dirty trick on me and moving my bookmark back a few pages. I concluded that Cahn must live with a senile grandparent for whom he has to repeat

things often. Either that or the publisher gave him an ultimatum, “Add 50 more pages by tomorrow!”

The book could have easily been half its size with all plot points intact.

The book is based on a series of concurrences between the prophecy in Isaiah 9:10 and the events of 9/11 and aftermath. (See one already, 9:10, 9/11? Also, Cahn recently confirmed that in the One-Year Bible, from 1985 through 2001, Isa. 9:10 was in the reading for September 11.) Cahn reveals the concurrences as nine harbingers, each in a symbolic seal, which the main character has to figure out with the help of an unnamed angel in a trench coat. But get bogged down in plot—Cahn only wrote it that way because he rightly knew more people would read a story than a straight analysis. I read eagerly awaited the tipping point where Cahn’s argument would give me goose bumps. Half-way through the book, I was still thinking this sounded more like that time when a family member tried to convince me we were related to England’s Prince John. The acrobatics and contrivances… just… too… much!

Let me add that I am not a skeptic and I believe the entire premise is within the realm of possibility. And yet there was only one concurrence which, upon reading, caused my eyes to widen, nostrils to flare and eyebrows to rise. Turns out that George Washington, after delivering the first presidential address to Congress on April 30, 1789, led the legislators in a foot-procession to a little stone church to consecrate this nation to God. The very spot where that little stone church sat is, today, Ground Zero. (Cue theme from Twilight.)

There are others too… many others. (OK, kill the music.)

Could some Biblical prophecy pertain to the United States? Certainly; but it seems more likely

that applying Biblical prophecy to our country and our times is just another form of rampant nationalism and ethnocentrism. The United States has the makings of a great nation, but the jury is still out on whether we will earn that status in the annals of history. After all, 230 years isn’t much of a track record in the big picture. Look at the Mayan and Aztec empires, both of which lasted at least twice as long as we have – nobody’s pegging them for a role in Biblical prophecy. Too geographically small, you say? What about the Mongol Empire which stretched from presentday Vietnam to Hungary? They had it going on, but now, with a few hundred years of perspective, who gives them much thought? Even if we get “great civilization” status some day, that doesn’t mean God has a special role for our country in His plan. We need to take into account the underlying assumptions of self-importance in Cahn’s premise, without discounting it altogether on that basis.

Sadly, end times prophecy attracts a lot of kooks, and this book has been touted by them all!

But don’t let that dissuade you from giving it a contemplative look.

The Harbinger: The Ancient Mystery that holds the Secret to America’s Future by Jonathan Cahn. ©2011 272pp. $16.99 (but sells for less on Amazon.com)

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Spare Change

Month by

Month Plan to Better Financial

Health

by Julie Ann

T

here’s no better time than the beginning of a new year to take a good look at your finances and make a money plan for the next twelve months.

Here are 12 easy steps, one for each month, to help you save money and manage your financial life. Tackle each of these challenges and watch your savings grow and debt shrink.

January: The first thing you should do to

ensure your financial health in 2013 is to sit down at the beginning of January and prepare your budget for the year. This includes charting your income and expenses, developing a filing system for important financial documents and receipts and planning for unexpected financial obstacles. A few hours of planning now will serve as a helpful roadmap for the remainder of the year.

February:

During February we celebrate love and remember some of our greatest presidents.

In order to honor the presidents this month

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I suggest that you start saving them. Pay cash for as much as possible (always a good practice anyway), and then when you receive change, save it. To build the savings quicker, stash your Lincolns (aka, five dollars bills), but even good old George Washingtons will make an impact when done consistently. Budget too tight to save paper? You can still save coins and bank them at the end of each month. Putting away just six fivedollar bills each month will net $360 by time you ring in 2014.

March:

The first day of spring will arrive during March and that means it’s time for spring cleaning. It’s the perfect time to pull things out of your closet and storage spaces that you no longer need and sell to others. This may mean hosting a garage sale or posting items on an online auction site. Your challenge is to get rid of what you no longer need and earn a little pocket change in the process.

April: Now that you’ve eliminated some physical

clutter, thing about some other things you could

eliminate from your budget. Perhaps you could cut off your cable or landline? What about eliminating your coffee, bottled water or vending machine habit? Are you paying for memberships you don’t use? Take some time this month to examine your life and see what you could do to free up extra cash.

May: One challenge I like is to see how low I

can get my electricity bill to go. This involves adjusting the heat or A/C a few degrees, shutting off the lights as much as possible, using a clothes line instead of a dryer and unplugging all appliances when not in use. Start these practices now and then monitor your bill to see how low you can go for the rest of the year.

not always be the most entertaining read, but I guarantee that if you follow through on this challenge, you’ll be financially smarter.

September: Your challenge for September

is to throw a party! Not just any old party but a swap party. Invite all your friends to bring old clothes, jewelry, craft supplies, dishes, knickknacks, etc., that they would like to part with.

Everyone can leave what they don’t need and take any items that they do need. Anything that is unclaimed at the end of the party can be donated to a charity, thrift store or consignment shop.

October:

As we head into the holiday season, get serious about list-making and doing research June: If you’ve completed each money before shopping. Make a rule to not purchase challenge so far, congratulations! You are anything that isn’t written on your shopping list. halfway there! June is a great time to re-evaluate It’s the impulse purchases that can really poke your budget and adjust based on how your year holes in your budget. Also, take time to compare has gone. Did you get a raise or unexpected the prices of your frequently purchased items to money? Maybe you are still stashing your spare find the best store, use smartphone apps to check change and want to increase your savings. Maybe the costs at other stores and online and be aware you’ve run into some unanticipated expenses. of what constitutes a good deal.

Take a few minutes to run a financial check-up November: November falls right in the middle and ensure you are still on the right track. of the holiday eating season with the climax July: July is about celebrating our American a day devoted to feasting. In November your independence. This month your challenge is to challenge is to fast. Oh, don’t worry; you can focus on your financial independence by paying still enjoy your turkey and pumpkin pie! I’m down debt. Use some of the money you’ve saved talking about a financial fast. This is a perfect thus far by paying extra towards debt. Maybe month to fast from things like buying clothing, you can pay $100 extra on your car payment or entertainment items or shoes. Take your greatest student loan or pay off that last bit on your credit money spending temptation and fast from card and then cut it up in a celebratory act. This it—you’ll probably get double of it next month will put you a few steps closer to a life without anyway! those pesky loan bills and even peskier high December: Congratulations if you’ve made it interest rates. this far and have successfully completed every August: One of my favorite things to do in challenge. There is just one more and hopefully the summer is read by the pool, so that’s your it’s fun and easy: Learn a new skill that will challenge this month (or by the beach, in the help you save money. Maybe you can pick up park, etc.) Oh, I’m not taking about that latest sewing or knitting to make your own clothing best seller, but a finance book or magazine. or accessories. Maybe you could follow through One of the best ways to control your budget, on some of those do-it-yourself cleaning or grow savings and live in financial freedom is beauty products you’ve liked on Pinterest. The to understand how these things work. Ask a possibilities are limitless. Just pick something friend or run an Internet search for suggestions, that you would enjoy and that could be useful and then swing by your local library. It may and will result in savings.

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center ring

Women Like Porn Too

By Sydney Clark

I

was a perfect kid. And like all perfect kids, I had a secret.

This is my story.

ALONE As a child, I didn’t have the healthiest relationship with my mom. She was a young mother. I was her oldest child and a girl, which made me the prime candidate to be her best friend. This translated into a role that included giving advice on how to discipline my siblings and listening to Mom tell me all of the reasons she was angry at my father on any given day. Consequently, my relationship with my father suffered. I shut myself down, deciding I did not want a relationship with a man like that.

After they thought we kids were asleep, my mom and dad would argue, and sometimes it ended with my mom leaving the house. I prayed that she would come back for me. I’m sure this didn’t happen as often as I remember, but it had a huge impact on me emotionally and psychologically.

I was the good kid in the family so I had the responsibility of holding the family together. I always acted like everything was fine, and I made sure my siblings were taken care of. I mitigated my parents’ relationship.

I had to help make sure that the Clark family looked perfect to the outside world. Talk about a responsibility!

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Naturally that was extremely draining emotionally, physically and spiritually. I felt disconnected from my family and alone. I cried myself to sleep multiple times a week because of the overwhelming feelings of sadness, heaviness and emptiness.

As a thinker by nature, not a feeler, I flipped an internal switch to shut down the feelings and emotions. In choosing to live my life this way, I further separated myself from all of my relationships. In my isolation, however, I craved emotional intimacy, particularly from guys.

Some girls who crave emotional intimacy jump from one boyfriend to the next to fill that void. Not me. I found a much more subtle and unnoticeable way of filling this void in my life—or more precisely, it found me.

It was the summer after my 6th grade year. We had just bought a computer with Internet service, and it sat on a desk in the family room. Like a lot of girls that age, I was obsessed with American Girl dolls and I was thrilled to get on the American Girl website and play online games.

In those days, people were not yet too familiar with filters and pop-up blockers. One day, I typed “American Girls” into the browser, and BOOM—my life was changed. Instead of taking me to the American Girl website, a lesbian pornography site popped onto my

feature article screen. I stared at it, confused. I hadn’t even known porn or lesbianism existed! I knew something wasn’t right about it—my conscience was blaring like a high-pitched siren and flashing red strobe light inside of me. I tried to exit out of it, but more screens of porn just kept popping up. I was panicking inside. Eventually I was able to close all of the windows and I calmed down. I hoped that my parents wouldn’t find out what had happened.

A few days later, my mom called me out to the front porch. I sat next to her on the step and she told me that she and my dad had seen the porn on the computer (by viewing the browser history). I told her that it had just popped up when I searched for “American Girls” and that when I went to close the window, more and more pop-ups appeared. She was terribly saddened by this, evidenced by the fact that she started crying. I was confused. I had no idea why porn existed; why people film sex; why I had come across it; why it was two women and not a man and a woman. But all of my questions had to be put aside because my mom was clearly in pain. She told me to never look at porn again. I told her I wouldn’t. But I was curious.

ADDICTED I had discovered that viewing porn made me feel things.

Good things, at least in the moment. I could fill the void in my life of emotional intimacy by viewing two people faking an emotional interaction. I thought it was brilliant.

I could do it in secret—no one would even know about it.

I had figured out how to delete the history on the internet browser so my parents would never find out. It was a foolproof plan.

The problem, of course is that porn is very addictive, and the more I used it to fill the emotional hole in my life the more of it I wanted! Like any addiction, you start needing more and more of it to fulfill you in the same way a smaller amount previously had. I began watching it for hours in a day, particularly during the summers when my parents were working and I was at home.

In those early days I would just look at pictures— sometimes even when my mother was just in the other room. The thrill of possibly getting caught added to the cravings I had for the exhilaration and physical pleasure it brought. But those cravings awoke other appetites too.

I remember the first time I became aware of the term masturbation. It was eighth grade. The girl I sat next to in my physical science class asked me if I fingered myself. I remember thinking I didn’t know what that meant, but I was pretty sure I didn’t. While that was true, I had found other ways of masturbating through imitating some of the things I saw online.

Porn also brought with it lots of confusion. Because of my negative view of men, I watched lesbian porn exclusively for a couple of years, and that deeply affected the direction of my physical attraction. I went through a period of three years, beginning in 8th grade, in which I was attracted to females as well as males.

I also felt intense shame. I attended an annual purity retreat with my church youth group. The message I got was that only boys struggled with porn and masturbation; girls struggled with body image and eating disorders.

These messages stem from assumptions that females are less sexual and not as visual as males. Yet, here I was, a teen girl drowning in a porn addiction. There were days that I wondered if God had made a mistake when He created me.

If I was really a boy stuck in a girl’s body.

Because of this shame, I couldn’t bring myself to tell anyone about my secret struggles. Instead, I just kept spiraling deeper and deeper into my addiction, although at the time I didn’t want to admit that I was an addict, as any good control freak would do.

Tenth grade was the worst year of my life. I was so deep in porn that I would even look at it on the school’s computers during my free periods even though I knew they had filters and Internet tracking programs installed. If that’s not desperate, I don’t know what is!

I had successfully shut off my emotions before, but now it felt like they were beginning to seep through the cracks in the boards that I had nailed up to hold them out. I couldn’t handle it anymore. I had lost control. I had driven myself into a state of depression and I wanted out.

During this time in my life, Superchick’s “Stand in the Rain,” was my anthem: “She won’t make a sound. Alone in this fight with herself and the fears whispering if she stands she’ll fall down. She wants to be found. The only way out is through everything she’s running from. She wants to give up and lie down.”

I admitted to myself that I was an addict. And my sexuality was all screwed up. My mind had been warped.

My thinking about relationships was perverted. From years of viewing pornographic, artificial relationships, I saw women and men as sex objects.

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WORTHLESS Once I reached the point of actually wanting to be free from the addiction, I struggled with feeling as though God would not want to save me. I could go for days or weeks without looking at porn, but I would always give in to the temptation eventually. I knew that God has the power of completely ridding me of the horrible desire to view porn, but He wasn’t doing it. I was continuously failing. The only

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center ring conclusion was that He had better things to do. He had better people to save. Yes, He loved me, but not enough to save me from the hell I had gotten myself into.

My life was ruined, and it was all my fault. I didn’t want to burden anyone with my problems—they were my responsibility. Personal responsibility is a wonderful thing, but not at the cost of your spiritual, mental or physical health. God made us to be in relationship; to lean on each other when we can’t hold ourselves up—to share each other’s burdens. The core of our sexuality is relationship.

I resigned to the fact that this would be my life. I would be a porn addict forever. Forever using the brief high I obtained from viewing porn and masturbating to cover up the shattered pieces of my life.

This feeling of hopelessness often leads teens to be suicidal, but I knew I couldn’t kill myself. I hated physical pain and I knew that the grief it would cause my family would devastate them. I would just have to live my life in this ravaged state. I told myself I was strong, that I knew I could do it, that this is the life God had for me. Deep down inside, I knew I would never make it.

But God was not done with me.

One night, halfway through my sophomore year, I was going through my nightly routine in the bathroom. I was feeling particularly emotionally overwhelmed and broke down crying standing there in the middle of the room.

Intense feelings of hopelessness and despair washed over me. I became physically weak and sank to my knees on the bathroom floor. In that moment I felt the Spirit of God physically draw near to me. I heard God tell me that He was not done with me. That this was not the life He had for me. This experience did not have to be in vain. He would redeem me, and if I was willing, my experience could be used to help others.

I cannot aptly describe that experience to this day. It was supernatural and restored within me a bit of hope.

However, my desire for porn only increased the following weeks. I was beginning to think that I was crazy for allowing myself to think that God would save me.

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REDEMPTION A few weeks later, I was kneeling in my bed before going to sleep. I had slipped into another state of hopelessness and was crying out to God. In that moment I felt something cold and dark grab me internally and try to pull me backwards. But there was another force and that one grabbed onto me and pulled me face down onto my bed.

I had never experienced spiritual warfare before, but I knew that’s what had just happened. I had felt God physically fight for my life. He had all the reason in the

world to let me go, but He chose to hold on. Thinking about it still makes me shudder to this day.

That was the turning point: when I finally understood that I have a God who is willing to fight for me.

My youth minister was the first person I told about my porn addiction and struggles with masturbation and same sex attraction. His response is still one of my most treasured memories. After confessing to him, we sat together and just cried. He listened, asked a few questions, and knowing that I was an avid reader, gave me a book to read that helped me think through the causes of my samesex attractions. Restoring Sexual Identity: Hope for Women Who Struggle with Same-Sex Attraction by Anne Paulk.

The following year, realizing that I was not going to get rid of this addiction on my own, I found an accountability partner. Having accountability in your life is so important and it’s not just for addicts! We all have areas that we struggle with, and accountability is so helpful in identifying those areas and surrendering them to God daily.

When I entered college, I was still occasionally viewing porn. I would have binges during which I would look at it for 3 or 4 days out of the week and then go without it for a couple of months. I knew that I had to go to counseling.

From reading the book my youth minister had given me, I recognized that there were deeper issues I was using porn to cover that had to be addressed—such as my relationships with my parents.

Now, four years of counseling later, and addiction-free, I can attest to the danger of porn, but more importantly to the grace, power and glory of God. It was not an easy journey. It is weird to think that eight of the 22 years I have spent on this earth were consumed being a slave to pornography. “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal” (Romans 6:22).

I wholeheartedly believe that the Spirit is purifying me, not just from my porn addiction, but from my sinful nature in general, and renewing my mind. Ultimately, that is the only hope any of us have.

“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with everincreasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Sydney Clark launched the Simply Sex(uality) project which seeks to encourage and empower Christians and the Church to interact with the topic in a more knowledgeable, positive, and Christ-centered way. Visit her blog at SimplySexuality. wordpress.com.

Fa s hion DIVinA

Shaver Savers: Hairless for Less!

Jane

by Tamara

I

am a mountain woman. Nonetheless, I do shave... now and again. Seriously though, I bumped into a friend the other day who recently left home for college, and she was telling me about being responsible for her own expenses now. One of her biggest gripes was the cost of shavers. She said she can’t buy the cheap kind, because they don’t work well for her and they wear out quickly, but the threeand four-blade varieties are so expensive and don’t last that long either!

That conversation started me to wondering about how to increase the life span of a shaver. Turns out I’m not the only one losing sleep over this subject! The Chicago Tribune even ran an article on extending razor life!

Turns out, we could all be saving money on shavers with a few easy adjustments.

The logical place to keep a shaver between uses is in the shower, right? Actually, that’s the worst place. The shaver’s worst enemy is moisture, and steam from the shower, or even the damp environment of a shower caddy, is going to dull those blades before the next use. A simple strategy for extending shaver life is to pat shavers dry with a towel and store in a dry place between uses. This could actually double the life of your shaver, saving you 50 percent on shavers!

Secondly, keeping a shaver clean and free of hair and product clogs will also extend its life. You may think I’m freakishly frugal, but in an effort to save money I don’t use shaving cream. Body wash is easier on a razor and works just as well for lubricating the legs for shaving.

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You can also realize savings by shaving less frequently, especially in the winter months when probably no one is seeing your legs anyway!

Just not into that? You might also try going back to the cheap twin-blade shavers. Consider this: Venus Embrace five-blade shavers cost $8.52 for three shavers at Walmart.com. Schick disposable twin blades cost $1.97 for 12 shavers. If you do the math (five-blade shaver costs $1.70; twin blade costs $.16), it would take 10 uses of the Venus shavers to recuperate the cost difference over the twin blades.

If you’re not getting that kind of longevity from the premium shaver, you might try using a twin-blade again and see if it works well for even one shave.

It’s not so great for the environment, but it would save money to use a twin blade once and toss it over getting only five or six shaves from a premium shaver.

Alternately, try electric shavers, which give the additional flexibility of allowing you to shave dry, or depilating products such as Nair. A nine-ounce bottle of Nair costs under $5 and will likely be enough for

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removing hair six or more times. And hair doesn’t grow back as quickly.

This may not be helpful to know, but 20 years ago there was no such thing as a four-or five-blade shaver. They work well, no doubt, but are they essential? Hardly. If money really is tight, you can shave for less. But if you simply cannot do without the luxury of a many-bladed shaver, at least don’t ever, ever pay full price. Since the top three companies are constantly vying for the consumer, there are almost always coupons available for premium shavers in the Sunday paper or online.

Additionally, while at the store, whip out your phone and do the math to see which of the many products offers the best deal. Should you buy a handle with cartridge refills, or disposables? Are refill kits actually cheaper than starter kits? Look for shavers in clearance aisles too. Sometimes when packaging or product style changes, the older ones get redtagged.

With just a little more consideration, you can indeed shave down the price of shaving.

Just What You

Need

By Bryan Hupperts

Most Accurate Horoscope EVER! Aries • March 21 •April 19 You are under the first sign of the Zodiac, which represents a new beginning, and man, you need a new beginning. If you’ll surrender your heart to Jesus, instead of being ruled by the war planet, you’ll be loved by the living God. “If any person be in Christ, they become a new creation...” And the ram you wonder about is a picture of Jesus, the Lamb of God, who was slain at the Cross for your sins.

Taurus • April 20 • May 20 You are under the sign of the bull with good reason. Everything you have ever trusted has turned out to be so much bull that neither lasts nor satisfies. How about repenting before God and coming under the sign of the Cross? There’s healing and rest for your weary soul. God will give you so much genuine peace that you’ll finally be welcomed to all kinds of places—even in China shops!

Gemini • May 21 • June 21 It’s not your “twin nature” that’s been your problem; it’s your double mindedness. “Let not the double minded man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord.” ( James 1: 7). You need to be pieced together from the inside. It sure beats being “beside yourself.” Give Jesus your split personality and broken heart and allow him to make you the whole person that God destined you to be.

Cancer • June 22 • July 22 You were born under the sign of the crab, which is great if you are seafood. God has greater plans than this for you but you’ll have to dump the “it’s my way or the highway” attitude and humble yourself like a little child before God. If you’ll do this, and confess the Lordship of Jesus, you’ll get a new nature and the name

Christian instead of Cancer, which is a bummer of a name anyway!

Leo • July 23 • Aug. 22 Your symbols are the sun and the lion. The problem is that you’re earthly minded and have missed out that you’re supposed to love the Son of God who is also the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He’s coming back in triumph for all those who love his appearing, but it will be an especially bad day for those who don’t.

Get off the fence Leo and chose this day whom you will serve. Jesus is alone Lord of all!

Virgo • Aug 23 • Sept. 22 You were born under the symbol of a virgin with grain in her hand.

Jesus was born of a virgin named Mary (who later had other kids by her husband Joseph). The grain is a picture of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” ( John 12:24). That is a picture of his crucifixion, death, and overcoming resurrection from the dead. Want to live forever? He offers eternal life to whosoever will believe upon his name.

Libra • Sept. 23 • Oct. 23 You were born under the sign of the balancing scales and your life has been a balancing act. Sooner or later, unless you utterly turn from the sin that is killing you, the scales will not weigh in your favor and you’ll fall into an eternal devil’s hell.

Let the blood of Jesus wipe away your sins and you’ll be forever forgiven. The demands of justice were met when Jesus died on the Cross. Jesus paid the price for your sins if you’ll only believe in Him.

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Just What You Scorpio • Oct. 24 • Nov. 21 You got stuck with being born under the sign of the deadly scorpion.

It’s a picture of your inherent sin nature with the sting of death waiting to finally end your earthly existence. The Good News is that if you’ll call upon Jesus, his blood will take the sting of sin away from you and you’ll become a beloved child of the living God. Sagittarius • Nov. 22 • Dec. 21 You were born under the symbol of the Archer. You get stuck with the fiery arrows of the evil one that bum mercilessly inside your head and make you think you’re going crazy. Nope, you’re just blinded by sin. Put on Christ, and the full armor of God, and you’ll be able to stand against the evil one who keeps shooting his deadly arrows at you. What a choice, a walking target for the devil, or a wholly loved and accepted born-again child of God. Make the wise choice!

Need To those who seek guidance from the stars, remember the Christmas story? Wise men followed the star, and it led them right to Jesus! They entered his presence and worshipped him. What sign you are born under isn’t as important as being born again under the sign of the Cross. Heed the warning in Matthew 24:29: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” But he who believes on the Son of God will have everlasting life!

Reprinted from SheepTrax Ministries

Capricorn • Dec. 22 • Jan. 19 You were born under the sign of the goat. Jesus is going to have his warrior angels separate the sheep from the goats at the end of the age—and it’s not looking too good for the goats.

You can repent from sin and get a new heart, a new nature, and have your goat level upgraded to sheep status right now if you’ll simply trust Jesus.

Aquarius • Jan. 20 • Feb. 18 Darwin feet, thank you!? That’s an old symbol for the Greek name of Jesus Christ, and he’s the one you’re searching through the stars for. The stars you worship are his creation and he’s got bigger plans for you than merely worshiping large balls of burning gas suspended in space. Call upon the name of Lord and be saved.

Limbourg Brothers “Meeting of the Magi” between 1411 and 1416

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