Titus 2 Tea and Testimony

This morning, some ladies in my church held a tea for the women in the church and their daughters. The theme was Titus 2:3-5 "Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled." 

As part of the Titus theme, a few women gave their testimonies on what Titus 2 means to them personally, and I had the great opportunity of giving my testimony with my mom and grandma.
It was difficult to find an angle to go after; I kept thinking: what does Titus 2 mean to me? It was hard because I was going to be speaking to many women who are older than I am and who I respect.

So I was a little bit nervous about doing this: I prayed that I would be able to do as well as my mom and grandma were sure to do.

We all did fine. My grandma was amazing, my mom was amazing, and I actually did okay and was told by several people afterwards that I did a great job. Even though it was very cool to be able to do that with Mom and Mimi, I am glad it's over!
But it was very cool and exciting to be included in the testimonies, to be able to really share what was on my heart with the women and girls in my church.

Here is my testimony below. I didn't follow this exactly, just used it as a guideline. Please don't be too critical! :)

 One of the things I think that God wants us to do, like this passage says, is to teach those younger than we. And I think that by nature, we do that.  We do learn from godly woman around us who have lived longer than we have, who have walked through more things spiritually. We have conversations with them. We tell them about we might be going through, about what we are thinking, we ask for advice because we know that these women are wiser than we are. God designed us to look to those whom we respect and who have more knowledge than we do and to learn from them. God also uses these people in our lives to help shape our character.

For example, I have two younger sisters who look up to and what to be just like me. So when I handle a situation in a wrong way, they see that and learn from that. Same goes when I handle a situation in the right way. I constantly have little eyes watching me, seeing what I do, how I do it, and how I handle certain things. So even I, who am more in the learning stage of my life than the teaching stage, have a responsibility to show, mostly in my actions, that God is the center of my life to my sisters, cousins, or anyone who is watching, because they will pick up on how I do these things; with a sarcastic, angry, and selfish heart, or with a heart that truly wants to honor God.

God has blessed me greatly with several women that I love and respect that I have been able to learn from throughout my life. My mother, grandmother, and aunts, to name a few. It is interesting to talk to these women about many different things and ask them questions about their walk with Christ.

As a specific example, often, my mom and I will have a conversation about God or just about anything while we’re cleaning the kitchen or folding laundry. It means a lot to me that my mom is willing to stay home, even when the budget is tight and she has to wait or say no to certain extra fun things, so that she can be at home with me and my siblings because that is what she believes is right.  I have learned from my mom, mostly by watching her live this out day-by-day, how to be content. And that sometimes you will have to sacrifice for something that is worth having. And I know that in eternity, it will mean a lot more to God that my mom invested in the years of my childhood and taught me these things, than if we had had a little more money to make our lives a little bit easier.

This is just my attempt to put what Titus 2 means to me into some kind of words. I know I still have much to learn, and that I will continue to learn until the day I leave this earth. And I am looking forward to someday being able to teach those around me, and share with them some of my personal experiences. And I want to never stop learning myself.