"Think twice" encouragements for women to help them make smart choices in life. Popular author and conference speaker Jan Silvious is back with savvy advice for women to help them deal with the important choices they face every day. Realizing choices bring consequences, she shares the value of the second look, the second perspective, and the second consideration as well as the significance of acknowledging red flags. Jan offers biblically sound, psychologically positive wisdom for smart choices in 8 critical areas: Time - Money - Words - Family - Men - Giving - Rest - God Jan Silvious has years of experience as a counselor and Bible teacher. She leads seminars for Moody’s women’s ministry, she has been a keynote speaker at Moody’s Founder’s Week, and she is a pre-conference speaker for Women of Faith. Her books include Understanding Women, The Five-Minute Devotional, Foolproofing Your Life, Moving Beyond the Myths, The Guilt Free Journal, and Look At It This Way. Jan and her husband, Charles, make their home in Chattanooga, Tennessee. They have three grown sons. smart girls think twice Making Wise Choices When It Counts By JAN SILVIOUS Thomas Nelson Copyright © 2007 Jan Silvious All right reserved. ISBN: 978-0-7852-2815-8 Contents Acknowledgments..............................................................................................ixAn Intelligent Attitude Toward Life..........................................................................1Chapter 1: Making Choices with Confidence Smart Girls Think Twice About Consequences........................11Chapter 2: For Real-It's a Warning! Smart Girls Think Twice About Red Flags.................................30Chapter 3: Don't Let Life Slip Away Smart Girls Think Twice About Time......................................54Chapter 4: Checks and Balances Smart Girls Think Twice About Money..........................................68Chapter 5: Is It True? Is It Kind? Is It Necessary? Smart Girls Think Twice About Words.....................86Chapter 6: Relatively Speaking Smart Girls Think Twice About Family.........................................102Chapter 7: You've Gotta Love 'Em Smart Girls Think Twice About Men..........................................121Chapter 8: All the Good You Can Do Smart Girls Think Twice About Living Generously..........................138Chapter 9: Give Yourself a Break Smart Girls Think Twice About Rest.........................................153Chapter 10: Who Will You Trust with Your Life? Smart Girls Think Twice About God............................171In-Depth Study and Discussion Guide..........................................................................187Notes........................................................................................................210 Chapter One Making Choices with Confidence Smart Girls Think Twice About Consequences My mother and daddy met in a class at business college. He had a limited education but thick, dark hair and loads of wit and charm. She was a blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty who doggedly put herself through college despite suffering the loss of her mother at the age of eighteen. Both were trying to better their chances for employment by taking the business course, but the biggest bonus to come out of that class was their meeting one another. Each day they shared a package of crackers and a Coca-Cola for lunch. This bonded them together on a life journey that would last more than fifty-five years. Daddy often told me that when Mother walked into the classroom, he said to himself, "I'm going to marry that woman"-and marry her he did. I, their only child, was born five years later. The effects of the choices they made way back then continue to this very day. That's the way of choices: they always have consequences, many of which last longer than we initially could imagine. The word consequences sounds as if it always involves punishment, but it doesn't. Consequences are simply the inevitable results of a choice, whether positive or negative. Every choice we make will bring consequences of some kind. I learned about this relationship between choice and consequence at an early age by watching as my parents made big choices with great hopes and often huge consequences. In their early years, they lived hand to mouth. Mother stayed home to care for me and to make a home out of our tiny house. Daddy worked at a filling station owned by Mr. B. O. Jennings. (I love that name.) He pumped gas, washed car windows, changed oil and tires, and kept track of the money, a small percentage of which comprised his salary. It soon became clear that the money my dad brought in just wasn't enough for our family. My parents loved each other, and they loved me, but they did not love the financial future they saw stretching before them. So they thought about making a life change, and then they thought again. They came to the conclusion that moving where there w