Day 3#: What Scares Me

"What scares you most?"

Loaded question, no?

Of course there are the usual things that pop into your head...

big bugs,

snakes,

tornadoes,

big bugs and snakes swirling around inside tornadoes...no?...just me? M'kay.

But then there are other things...more serious things.

What scares me most is this.

God has placed great potential in me, as in all of us.

What if I don't realize that potential?

What if I don't accomplish all that I'm capable of?

 

What I fear most is a wasted life.

When it comes to video games,

I am one of those people who go for broke.

I collect all the coins, break all the blocks, squash all the bad guys (Mario World, anyone?),

gather up all the bonuses and achieve expert on every level.

If I miss even one item, I'll restart and do it over because I want it just perfect.

 

For a long time, I felt that way about my life.

I've made some mistakes in my life, done things good Christian girls ought not do.

And I desperately wished for a restart button.

There were dark moments even, when I wished I could just quit because I knew I had missed my mark.

 

That is when God taught me about His grace.

Grace is God's restart button.

His mercies are new every morning.

 

So while I have relaxed my perfectionistic grip on life,

I still beg God to make my life count.

I'm don't want to get to heaven and see a picture of what my life was meant to be 

only to realize I missed the mark because of fear or stubbornness.

 

In some ways, 

I'm most scared of myself.

I most afraid of the chances I won't take,

the people I'm too afraid to talk to,

the prayers I'm too busy to pray,

and the words I'm too afraid to speak. 

Even my fear of a wasted life,

as noble or good as it may seem,

is still fear...it is still not good.

 

I have to remind myself that

Jesus is the author and perfecter of my faith (Hebrews 12:2).

If He wrote my story, He'll finish it.

And He will make perfect what I cannot.

He will finish the work He started in me (Phil. 1:6), the work He started...not I, but He.

And He has a plan for my life (Jere. 29:11) and even before I was born He knew me

(Jere. 1:5) and knowing me, He knew what my strengths and weaknesses would be.

 

 And I guess the only way I know how to end this post

is by leaving you with this verse.

 

"What, then, shall we say in response to this? 

If God is for us, who can be against us?"

Romans 8:31 

~~~~
I'm linking up at Anchored in Love Divine
for the Blog Everyday in February Challenge!

Day #2: There's a Fire in My Soul!

Today is my first post in the Blog Everyday in February Challenge!
You can read about it here.

I'm supposed to share with you something that fires me up!

Something?!

 Sorry, that just isn't possible.

There are just too many things, I can't choose just one!

A post like this could be potentially very word heavy,

so I decided to express that which fires me up through the medium of images.

Worship and Music

There is nothing so amazing as a worship service where the Spirit
is moving! Worship is healing and freeing on such a deep level,
and I believe there is more power in worship than we give credit for.





Music originated in heaven, and sometimes, it can take us back.


Words

“A man with a scant vocabulary will almost certainly be a weak thinker.
The richer and more copious one's vocabulary and the greater one's awareness of fine distinctions
and subtle nuances of meaning, the more fertile and precise is likely to be one's thinking.
Knowledge of things and knowledge of the words for them grow together.
If you do not know the words, you can hardly know the thing.” 
-Henry Hazlitt 

Towards the end of this post, you can read more about how I feel on the subject and power of words.




Culture and World Peoples

Someday I'll meet these people and see these places with my own eyes.
I feel as if I have a worldwide family... I just haven't met them yet.


 
Spiritual Healing and Freedom

 
When Christ comes in and heals those wounded, bound up parts of your soul,
there is no greater feeling of newness and true freedom.

Read this book.
It will change your life.
Seriously.


Because I have experienced spiritual healing and freedom,
I long to be a guiding hand to others who need the same!
Especially young girls and women.

Truth

I decided long ago that I desired truth above all else...
above ease, pleasure, or blissful ignorance.
I look for the deepest truth in everything...I'm curious, always asking questions, always digging.
After all, you won't find diamonds and gold on the surface.

Creating

I come alive when my hands are working at creating...

in that way I love to copy my Creator and experience just
a touch of the joy He must have felt when He made this glorious world!
Whether I'm working with the medium of yarn, thread, food, or ink,
I love to create a thing of beauty!

Natural Health

Honestly,
I haven't been a traditional doctor in about 15 years.
I believe God gave us everything our bodies need for health
in the world around us through herbs.
It excited me that He is concerned for our health
and has provided a means to attain it through simple, inexpensive ways!
I believe in treating the problem and not the symptoms.
Through herbs and natural means, I've witnessed the iridication
of issues the modern medical movement claim to be untreatable.
Sure, if I break my arm or need surgery, I appreciate the hospital,
but on a whole I don't support their methods and treatment.


Life,
relationships,
dancing,
adventure,
new experiences...
these are the sort of things that ignite a flame of excitement inside me!


What sort of things are you passionate about?
Leave a comment below, I would love to hear from you!

~~~~
I'm linking up at Anchored in Love Divine
for the Blog Everyday in February Challenge!

January & December, A Month In Review

If you were one of those people who noticed that 'A Month in Review for December' post
was completely nonexistent,well, this should make you feel better.

Honestly,
there has and there hasn't been a lot happening in the last couple months.
Most of what has been happening isn't something you can sum up with a photo and caption.
Most of what has been happening has just been...life.
Some of that life has been new things coming alive inside of me,
and old things being resurrected...internal happenings, really.

There are however a few things I can share with you!
Like my 'new' sewing machine, for instance!
'New' actually means 'it-cost-$50-at-Goodwill'. :)

I give you the Singer Stylist 533!

Truth be told,
this little machine has been a resident in my home since the beginning of November.
So are you just hearing about it now?
For one, there were some repairs that needed attendance.
It was in sort-of-working condition when we got it- but it had been sitting so long that one of the plastic cogs broke as soon as we started tinkering with it.
It wasn't until late December that it was up and running!

It is really nice to have a back up machine, 

and this little dear has a special feature that I'm so pleased with!
You can remove a section of the base so it becomes narrow enough to slip a sleeve or pant leg over it!
It makes mending knee holes a hundred times easier!

This is the first singer I have worked with,
so it takes a little getting used to since controls and dials are different from what I learned on.
This machine also has a drop in bobbin, which was a little strange for me.


And guess what I got for Christmas!
My very own dress form!

 

 I'm pretty excited about it!
There are several dials, so I can adjust it to my (or any other) specific measurements. 
I haven't really had a chance to use it yet, but I'm sure I'll really enjoy it.
There have been a couple times in my refashion endeavours that I heartily wished for one of these!
You are sure to see more of this red beauty in my future refashion projects.

There came to be another new addition to my sewing room in December as well,
but since it was a project, I'll save that for another post.

Happy February everyone!

Lights, Camera, Action!

Sooooo,
a little something happened back in November, that I kinda forgot to share with you.
Yeah, well...I made it onto the big screen!
Ok, maybe not really.
But my brothers did wrangle me into playing a role for their show on YouTube called ShootIt.

My three oldest brothers (all younger than me, but they are the oldest boys...make sense? Ok.)

are aspiring film makers, they have made several shorts,

entered a few contests, and one of their commercials even won first place.

They are still small, but you have to start somewhere, right?

Well, in this video you get to see me in rare form...seriously,
keep in mind I was acting, this is very out of character for me!
Or at least out of character when it comes to what I let the public see. :)
 So please, don't judge me based on my performance here...
truth be told I'm a bit embarrassed and nervous to share it with you,
but, you know, you gotta support the boys and I've put it off long enough already!

So really,

this whole post could be summed up quite fittingly...The Things We Do For Family!

Enjoy, or just...err...don't disown me! Haha!

Blog Everyday in February Challenge, Hosted by Anchored in Love Divine

Hello everyone!

Well, look at us, we have quite nearly survived the whole entire first month of the new year!

 I don't know about you, but I am genuinely excited about what this new year will hold.

I have a feeling this is going to be a big year...good (or should I say God) things are going to happen!

Speaking of good things coming,

I wanted to share something fun with you that is coming up next month.

I am a follower, albeit it a pretty new one, 

to the blog Anchored in Love Divine written by the lovely Bailey Jean,

and she has issued a great way to keep the creative blogging flow going through the month of February

with her Blog Everyday In February Challenge!

She even came up with 28 fun writing prompts to keep you inspired!

Take a gander...

I'm pretty excited about this!

But, I'll be straightforward with you, I don't think I'll be able to generate a post every.single.day!

I do love her ideas though, and I've already selected my favs that I'm for certain going to blog about!

Some of them aren't quite up my alley, so I'll try to throw a refashion or project post in its place.

At any rate, 

I think it will be a lot of fun!

What do you think?

Would you like to join the party and blog along?

Are there any topics in the list above that you would like to see me post about?

Let me know!

Beauty Infusion

Last week I joined Coffee For Your Heart and wrote about beauty.

In my post I shared with you a word the Lord gave me about beauty which was...
"Beauty is an infusion of hope and desire."

I just quick wanted to share a thought with you about that.

After writing my post I decided to do a little research into the word infusion.
It was such a specific and slightly odd word choice, that I was intrigued to delve deeper into the matter.

I had to smile when I read the following description.

Infusion 
 "The process of extracting chemical compounds or flavors from plant material in a solvent 
such as water, oil or alcohol, by allowing the material to remain suspended in the solvent over time (a process often called steeping). The process of infusion is distinct from decoction, which involves boiling the plant material, or percolation, in which the water passes through the material (as in a coffeemaker)."
Wikipedia


Did you catch all that?
Infusion is the process of bringing out flavors, in a solvent, like water.
But infusion happens when the plant is steeped, or soaked, in the water over time.
Not boiled, and not just passed over once.
But soaked.

You can probably tell where I'm going with this, can't you?

Our natural 'flavors' and the strengths with which we were created
are extracted...brought forth, drawn out when we have been soaked and steeped in the Living Water.
Jesus brings out the best in us. Many think when we become more like Jesus we lose ourselves,
but the reality is we become more ourselves.

I like the picture of soaking up Christ and slowly being drawn out.
He is careful with us. He doesn't boil us, causing pain and a breakdown of our character.
And he doesn't just flow over us once, like hot water over coffee.
But He surrounds us, envelopes us and allows us to soak Him in.
Over time we release more and more of ourselves into His care.

So,
beauty is an infusion of hope and desire.
Are you dripping with hope?
Does that liquid hope spill over into the lives of those around you?
Do you have a river of desire for life coursing through you?
Can people smell the Living Water on you?
Then girl...you are beautiful!