{ Unashamed: The Monthly Newsletter }
Proverbs 21:31 The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord.


{ Oh goody, it's July }

Well, it's July, and we are well into our second year of monthly newsletters- monthly rule reminders, monthly updates, monthly birthday wishes, monthly randomness. In spite of the surprising lull the guild seems to be experiencing all of a sudden, we actually have a few announcements for you guys.

The first is that, yay! Our VC got his original account back! A few people I know on Gaia, ryuu (Xandris) included, have been having issues with being hacked, including our very own Liz (freelance lover). Thankfully, Liz was able to get her account back, and now ryuu has as well! Unfortunately, he couldn't change is name back to his original name (ryuu_chan), so now you'll see our VC hanging around under the name of The Amazing Ryuu. Welcome back to your old account, Vice Cap'n!

Second is that yes, we're doing some form of spring cleaning this July, just as we have in Julies (July's? Julys?) past. We're not going through and kicking out inactive members, and we're certainly not creating anything that needs a new subforum, but we will be reorganizing the the thread directory (I know we mentioned something about it last month, but we're gonna get on it f'realz this month and hopefully have something nice for you guys come August). Along those same lines, the main forum will be cleaned up as well- we'll get rid of the locked threads that are just sitting there.

Interfaith discussion! Yes! I've been trying for years to get one up and running (seriously you guys, years), and now, finally, the crew and I have come to a general consensus at least on where it should be hosted! This is really exciting news, and I'm not sure if you guys even realize that. So, with that said, I will be making a few PMs to other guild captains and hopefully they'll encourage their guilds to participate. I think (hope) it will be a fun learning experience for all parties involved. We'll keep you up to date on the details as we plan more of it.




{ Sum srsbsns }

In spite of all the good news we have, we have a small bit of serious business to attend to regarding relations within the guild and between members. I'm not sure if anyone besides myself and the crew are aware of it, but there has been a smidgen of drama these past few days. Anyone who reads the chatterbox thread will probably know what I'm talking about. In order to prevent something like this happening in the future, I'd like to give these guidelines:

If you have any problem with any member of the guild for whatever reason, the crew and I highly suggest you try to work it out with that person first. Send them a PM and try to get your differences worked out. If that doesn't seem to solve anything, then PM myself or another crew member and we will do our best to mediate the situation. If it seems to be a guild problem rather than a personal problem, it's likely that myself or the crew are already on it- however, you may still PM myself or one of the other crew members to point it out, and we'll let you know if we're already taking care of it.

Hopefully, these guidelines are clear; if you have any questions, please post them here or PM them to myself or a crew member.




{ Moving right along ... }

Okay, those are the announcements. Keep on the lookout for a tidier guild and updates on the upcoming interfaith discussion.

Now I'd like to introduce our verse of the month. We'd been attempting to go with a theme for the past few months, and we were slightly successful in that. Then July came along and we lost our momentum, so we've gone and picked a verse that kinda didn't go with any theme, either from the past newsletters, or really for July or the summer at all (remember we had one on freedom last year?). This month, our verse comes from Proverbs. It is a verse that can easily be used as encouragement, but can also be a reminder. If you continue reading on to our Word from the Crew, you'll see how and why. 3nodding




{ Word from the Crew Captain }

So, as I already stated in the small intro to this section, our verse for the month comes from Proverbs: The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord (Proverbs 21:31), and it is not only a verse of encouragement, but also a reminder about how we should make our plans.

Firstly, it is encouraging. It's obvious to see how: victory rests with the Lord. Straightforward. Simple. Victory rests with the Lord. God will give us victory. God will win the battle.

Secondly (and I promise, this will loop back to my first point), it is a reminder to us. The first half states what part in the plan we as human beings have. We make ready the horse for the day of battle. We make sure it is fed and health, we saddle it up, we put on the bridle and reins, get our flag ready. The horse is ready for battle, and we are ready to march in and do what must be done. However, the first continues on to remind us that victory rests with the Lord. Not with us, with the Lord. We may do what we can to prepare for the battle, but ultimately, it is God who will win it. But again, this is encouraging. It means that no matter what we have done to prepare, whether our preparations were sufficient or not, God has already come out the victor. Victory rests with the Lord.

It seems a pretty simple, non thought provoking verse, but it is a good one to remember, not only so that we don't get caught up in how hard we're trying to keep ourselves afloat in the battle- whatever that battle may be- but also so that we can remember that we will be victorious in the end, because God, the Lord, is victorious.

The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord.




{ Prayer requests }

These are all the prayer requests that have come in during June. If you'd like to make comments and offer support, feel free to post in the individual prayer request threads inside the Prayer Request subforum.

freelance lover
So my boyfriend's social smoking has progressed into habitual smoking over the last few months, and it's really causing me a lot of stress. I'm very against smoking because I think it smells and tastes awful and I've seen first hand the awful things it can do to a person down the road. My boyfriend, on the other hand, doesn't have any problems with it since all the smokers he knows are perfectly healthy.

He's always known about my dislike of smoking, and when it was just a social thing I didn't say anything about it because he never did it around me and it was pretty infrequent. We recently talked about his more habitual smoking, and he's been very understand and courteous, not smoking around me and chewing some gum afterward, but it still really bothers me and makes me anxious and worried. I know he enjoys it, but to me all it is is him killing himself slowly, and that drives me crazy. I can't ask him to quit, because in the end I know it has to be his choice and not mine for it to stick and until them I'm trying to meet him half way with healthier alternatives, but it's still causing me a lot of worry and anxiety and I'm afraid it's going to bleed in and damage our otherwise next-to-perfect relationship.

Sorry that was long, I just kinda needed to get that all out there. Basically, my prayer request is that my boyfriend will eventually quit smoking and until them I'll be able to manage the stress and anxiety this is causing me. I also hope our relationship will survive this first real test, because I am extremely thankful for him and I really feel like God put him in my life for a reason.

Sorry that was long sweatdrop
__________

So one of the local actors who I know through mutual friends who was recently cast in one of the shows I'm working on recently had to go back to rehab. He had let us know at the beginning of the summer that he was in rehab for a crystal meth addiction and would keep us updated. He recently relapsed and had to drop out of the show.

He's a wonderful guy, really nice, really funny, and a very talented actor (fun fact, he was a body double in The Dark Knight, for Scarecrow I think). He's just dealing with some really tough stuff right now. Pray that he can battle his addiction and will be able to get through this rough patch in his life.



[ Praise reports ]

We also like to praise God for what He's done in our lives, giving Him glory for the immense blessings He's given us. These are the praise reports that have been posted in June. If you'd like to praise along with them, or offer your own praise reports, you can do so in the Praise subforum.

freelance lover
For those of you who don't know, I'm basically obsessed with the organization I served with last summer, Project Transformation. It's an outreach ministry for inner city kids using college students as a way to reach these under serviced children, and it does amazing things on both sides of the fence.

I recently got to go back and visit all the intern last week, and it was right after their first day with the kids. All the interns have such amazing positive energy and they are going to do so much for these kids. They're going to have an amazing summer and are going to do so much good in the communities they serve. I am so thankful an organization like this one exists and I know they will have an awesome summer! When I see things like this, I know God is active and present in the world.

Mona05
June 2nd, I went to see Paramore live at the Ford Amphitheater in Tampa, FL. During Paramore's set, Hayley (singer) and Taylor (backup guitar) both [the rest of the band may have too, but I only saw Hayley and Taylor] just began praising God on stage in front of a sold out amphitheater. it made me so happy. and then i texted my friend after their set and she said that she was praying that that would happen.



{ July's Birthdays }

This month, Unashamed wishes a happy and blessed birthday to:
Utada12
moonbeam5003
The Book Never Written
A Different Light
boceto
DaMoomaw
Knatalie9
HOWsweetTHEsound
roxyrosie
Luz Melian
Rigor Mortis

Hope it's a great one, guys!