Emily Rachelle Writes

Once upon a time, there lived a little Christian girl in a little Christian family who led a good homeschooled Christian life alongside her youth group Christian friends. Saturday mornings were reserved for evangelism. Modesty was the most important part of her wardrobe. Her greatest dream was to get married and have eight kids. ponytails have just never been my look Once upon a time, that girl was me. I thought feminism was wrong and God's plan for me was to be a homemaker. I thought I couldn't be a functioning adult woman until I knew how to sew my own clothes and bake from scratch. I was convinced that four boys and four girls was the ideal family size. Nope.

This post happens to be my 600th ever written, and my first written or published for 2016. I never planned it that way -- actually, I didn't plan to write this post until just now, at one a.m. in bed -- but I guess God knew I was ready for a big one. About a year ago, I came out online as bisexual, through a blog post that shared a journal entry from the previous November. I told a handful of people before I posted anything. When I did have my "coming out," it wasn't really a coming out. It was just part of a series sharing many thoughts and struggles I'd had over my first college semester, which happened to include sexuality. Since then, I've referenced my sexuality in certain Facebook posts, maybe a few blog posts, a handful of conversations with friends. I want everyone to know I'm bisexual, because it's part of my identity -- like writing, or Christianity, or my family. But I don't want to shout it from the rooftops, because it's not ...

I'm baaack! Say hello to the latest official high school graduate and Taylor University college freshman! Also say hello to the newer, more streamlined, and shorter book reviews I'm trying out. I figure if I'm going to keep this blog going in college I'll need to keep my posts short and sweet as well as keeping my scheduled post days infrequent. Let me know how you like the new reviews in the comments! 30 Days to a More Beautiful You by Kylie Bisutti A Devotional for Girls Amazon Page GoodReads Page Author Website Despite what the world leads us to believe, true beauty has  nothing  to do with outward appearances. The more we focus on what we look like on the outside, the more insecure we become. Fortunately, God doesn’t measure our worth by how we look. We have value simply because we are His children. The more we focus on getting our hearts right with the Lord and honoring Him, the more secure and confident we will become—and the more we will exude true be...

Don't forget to read the story of Esther and my last post on supporting characters! Everyone who thinks of the Esther story probably comes away with the lesson of bravery, courage, standing up for others/what you believe in. That's a great lesson, one that is definitely found in these pages. However, it's not the only lesson. Far from it! I give you, in order of appearance, the other lessons I've found in Esther. From the king: Drinking is a bad idea. Choices made while you're drunk should not be acted on. Don't depend on your friends to make your decisions for you, and definitely don't trust their advice if they're infuriated or drunk. (Actually, in that case, find new friends!)

If you have not read the book of Esther, or are not familiar with the story, you may struggle to follow this post. However, don't despair - you can read it free online ! Good morning, my lovely readers! I told you once before about my latest Bible reading plan, and what I learned from Ruth. Right now I'm reading through Esther - one of my favorite Bible stories, but a book I've never actually read completely through before. I'm only partially done, but I wanted to share a few thoughts that have come across already. The entire book is about Esther, yes. It's titled after her, and she is undoubtedly the main character. But just like any good novel, in real life there are side characters - supporting roles, who are living their own individual lives with their own goals, dreams, back stories, and weaknesses. One reason I love the One Night with the King movie is because it portrays the story as a whole, complete with cultural and historical information and real, l...

Haven't read Ruth yet? No problem! Read it online for free now ! Last month, I set up a new Bible reading plan for myself. I'd been struggling to stick with my devotions, mainly because I felt like I wasn't learning anything or growing. I jumped from study to study, book to book, in my search for a deeper connection with God. Finally, I gave up on books or pre-made reading plans. Instead, I made a list of all the books of the Old Testament I'd thought it would be interesting to read. Yeah, preachers talk about how the whole Bible connects and every word is important , and that's true. But that doesn't mean every word is interesting or makes sense without extensive study and references. I wanted to find a way to make reading the Bible as interesting to me as reading fiction was. So I picked out the books of the Bible that stand on their own, that tell individual stories, that don't involve chapters and chapters of genealogies or prophecies that are beyond m...

Miss Part One: Starting a Bible Study ?  No worries!  Go check it out before moving on. Part Two: How to Keep Your Study Group Alive Nobody wants a Bible study group that's bored, grudging their time together, or doesn't get along.  Sometimes (especially with that last one) you do everything you can and it still seems to end in disaster.  However, there are ways to nurture a united, friendly group that has fun together.

Isn't it funny, my lovely readers, how little of my real life actually makes it into my blog?  Sometimes that's because life is messy, and bloggers are notorious for avoiding sharing their messy reality online.  (Although sometimes, life's messes don't need to be shared online.  There's a fine line between being authentic and being a complainer/gossip/busybody/fill-in-the-blank.)  Sometimes, life is just boring. There's the one that's usually my problem... sometimes, we bloggers just forget.   We forget to take photos while trying a recipe, or we forget about that big party last month, or we forget about all the cool real-life people we hang out with that the followers would just love to read about! (Or our cameras break and our blog posting options are suddenly limited because a post without photos just isn't as good.) Anyway, today I have a post based off a big part of my summer this year - Bible study! Even before I went to summer camp,  I wa...

Merry Christmas!  Today I have a sweet Christian bloggy friend over to talk about the meaning of Christmas.  Before she starts, though, I have an announcement: due to low entries, I'm opening up the Christmas Talent Contest to all ages!  Don't forget to enter! In the Christian World, you hear a lot of protest over too much commercialization. There's lots of signs that echo the refrain, "Put Christ back in Christmas!", many parents who teach their children how Jesus, and not Santa Clause, is the real reason for the season, and still a few souls who try to keep their focus on the Savior instead of going google-eyed in the glare of Christmas lights and drooling over coveted presents. This is all well and good, I'm all for it! But I want to go deeper than that. Even more than appreciating the sacrifice and light that's been brought to the whole world, I want to focus on what Christmas means for one person. What it means for the individual - you and me. ...

Today my good friend and fellow blogger Rachelle is sharing a few thoughts on her favorite word.  She didn't know this at the time, but I'm planning to join in a new trend for resolutions this year: one word.  (See more about this at www.oneword365.com ) Her description of the word 'daring' contains many thoughts that One Word participants often share in relation to their word each year. The first reason I like this word so much is because it scares me. Daring. It floats from my mouth and either falls to the floor or lifts up and flies. Maybe I also like it because it is so much like me. I feel like so often I either melt into the crackling leaves and dirt beneath...or I move air beneath me and fly.

 I'm a teenager.  I know firsthand that teenagers, especially as we get older, have responsibilities and lifestyles that are different than an adult's, while we often have the maturity level and understanding of many adults.  Therefore, I love to read advice articles written for adults, especially Christianity-related.  However, it often frustrates me when such articles have titles that sound promising - I think Ooh, I could really use help with that right now! I wonder what they suggest? - and then I read the article and realize that it's specific to a certain full-time job or part of adult life that doesn't relate to me.

When I recently redid my blog design, I found this sitting on one of my pages.  When or why I wrote it, I can't remember.  But there wasn't room for it with my pages, and I thought it'd be a shame to delete it.  So I'm editing and re-posting it here for all my lovely readers. Heroes.  We all have them. They're the people we look up to, the people we strive to be like, the people who are, in our eyes, the epitome of all that is good and pure, true and honest, just and godly.  They are the parents we want to be like, the teachers we want to talk like, the older friends we want to look like. They seem to have accomplished the ultimate task in life : being Christ-like. We think they are perfect.

Read A Summary, Part One  and A Summary, Part Two . On July 27 at 5:58 PM I wrote this in my Mission Trip 2012 journal: Today was... interesting. Definitely busy, but not the good kind of busy.  Lunch was good - fish cooked three ways.  I learned Americans, myself included, don't like breadfruit.  Then during free time was the girls' hike, and that's when things went south.  The hike was divided in half so those who wanted could go back to camp midway.  By the time we got to that point I was out of breath and very weak and tired, so I went with Jonathan, Katie, Andrew, Ashlee, Alex, Adina, Zach, and later Mrs. Bartow.  I never made it back to camp - I pretty much collapsed on the side of the road. 

Once again, Blogger's scheduling feature decided not to work with me.  I'm going to report this and see if next week goes a little better.  Sorry about the delay! Now, some of my lovely readers have different religious and political views.  That's to be expected, since I have around 60 GFC followers, 20 Networked Blogs followers, and 15 email subscribers - plus 36 Facebook likes.  I personally believe that homosexuality is sinful and unbiblical.  However, I believe that we should "love the sinner and hate the sin." Time for today's story.  Back when I lived in Okinawa, I went to the library frequently - at least once a week - and checked out literally as many books as I could carry.  One day I needed a nonfiction book report, so I decided to check out the writing how-to books.  This particular shelf was on one side of the little tables and chairs spread through the library, and a girl was there with her mother writing a research paper at the t...

What will be on your gravestone - what will others inscribe? What defines you? Are you an athlete?  Writer?  Student?  Christian?  Parent?  Dentist?  Teenager?  Mormon?  Blogger? You may be many of the above (obviously, you can't be all of the above; if you are, see a therapist and clear up your schedule before you have a heart attack at eighteen).  You may only be one or two.  You may be nothing I've listed.  But what defines you?

I was just re-reading several posts on this blog, and I decided to see what I'd labeled "Inspired by Bailey."   I know that many more posts were affected by her influence than are tagged, but I only tag the posts that are directly inspired by her, and I wanted to see which ones those were.  As I was reading, I found myself for the millionth time wondering what was so amazing about her to me.  Some days I look up to her and other days I know (at least in theory) that she's no 'better' than me or any other girl out there - and she'd be the first to say so.  But still, we all have people we look up to, admire, aspire to be like.  Why?

Dear Emily, Happy sixteenth birthday! As a special treat, I’m going to repeat what everybody always says on teen birthdays—the whole “growing up so fast” thing coupled with depressing statements of irrevocable change and impending doom and then concluding with well-worn (though profound) assurance of how it won’t be so bad, after all. I spent most of my younger life studying upper respiratory infections in rats and bedding options for horses in hopes of being a vet/breeder/pet store owner. I planned on starting out the store in my bedroom, even had the floor plans all made out in my notebook, though I admittedly had some trouble squeezing in two bunk beds and four sisters between the guinea pig and ferret cages. Life made sense back then. The biggest decisions involved breakfast and what to name my new Littlest Pet Shop bobbleheads—quite a delicate procedure, I can assure you. I had my life planned before I finished elementary school. By sixteen I couldn’t even find square one ag...

Today AnnaKate is back to share her thoughts on her favorite book - one I purchased last summer and intend to read soon. “How dreadfully old I am getting!  Sixteen!” So writes Katherine Mortimer in her brand new journal that will chronicle the journey of her life, her spiritual struggles and joys, her loves and hopes and dreams. Stepping Heavenward is a wonderful story by Elizabeth Prentiss, taken from her own life and journals.  My mom initially introduced me to it on the way home from a vacation when I was ten years old, and I devoured it over the five-hour journey.  A good portion of it must have gone over my head; it’s written in a style mimicking the classics and I was accustomed to Beverly Cleary and just venturing into the world of Newberry Awards.  But something in the story latched on to me—maybe the insight that came later, the fact that I am very much like Kate Mortimer!  Her struggles are my struggles; the battle over self-will, the never-endi...

Today my good friend Anna has come to share some thoughts about Christmas with us. It's Christmas Eve. I have a question to propose to you. What do YOU think about at this time of year? It's December, and everyone is thinking about one thing: Christmas. But what about Christmas are you thinking about? The gifts? The decorations? The music? Spending time with family and friends? Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with those things. There isn't. But I've been thinking recently. There are a couple of songs that come to my mind, and really make me think. Both are Christmas songs, and I'd like to share them with you. The first one is called “I Wonder as I Wander,” by John Jacob Niles. Perhaps you've heard it. “I wonder as I wander out under the sky, How Jesus the Savior did come for to die. For poor on'ry people like you and like I... I wonder as I wander out under the sky. W...

This cool Monday morning, Anna has come to share her thoughts on the often-overlooked words of Mary. For a long time my favorite verse in the "Christmas Story" has been one in which Mary humbly states; ..."Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it unto me according to thy word." Such obedience to the will of God is beautiful as Mary was faced with a black name from her community, family, and fiance. This is something that I admired in Mary, but didn't really look for in myself. Myself. This is a very interesting subject. I am naturally one who plans ahead, worries ahead, crosses bridges before she comes to them (and ends up in the hospital after the bridge collapses beneath her). I'm prone to wondering about what I'll do after high school, how I'll know who to marry, what I'll wear for my graduation ceremony, how on earth I'll pick my bridesmaids - since I have so many people to choose from.... and it goes on. Harder than these questio...