Wanted: Dead or Alive // A Review of Sorts (Legends of Western Cinema Week)

This week has just gone by in a flash, hasn't it? How could we be at the end of Legends of Western Cinema Week already?! With life and everything else going on, I unfortunately didn't end up having enough time to write up all of the wonderful ideas for posts that I had for this blog party. D:

But, after reading this post of Natalie's, I was especially determined that I just couldn't let this western-themed blog party go by without at least posting something about one of my favorite westerns right now, even if I am a day late.

What show is this? It's Wanted: Dead or Alive!

*Belts out show's opening music* DUN DUNN! ...DUN DUNN! ...Dun. Dun. DUN. dun DUUUUNN DUN DUN DUN dun....."

Okay, Faith, we get it. You're super excited about this.

Ahem. Okay, so, as in the words of Josh Randall himself, "let's gooo" ahead and get into this, shall we? xD

In a nutshell, Wanted: Dead or Alive is about bounty hunter, Josh Randall, a man who rides throughout the wild west, seeking to bring about justice and protect the innocent -- all while being as cool, calm, and collected as he possibly can.

Josh does his job for the money, of course, to make a living; and he values money quite highly. But you can also see that deep down, his main goal many times through his work is to see true justice be done. You can see this in the way he does his job and treats his prisoners. He takes the phrase "innocent until proven guilty" to heart. And when he knows someone is innocent, he does all he can to help fight for them.

He respects human life. He doesn't just kill for the thrill. Even though the poster says, "Wanted: Dead or Alive" he tries hard to give all of the people he tracks down a chance to come back alive, and be able to have a fair trial. However, if they don't take the chances Josh gives them though, well, he's not afraid to use his handy sawed-off shotgun when he needs to.

Despite his profession that is looked down upon by many people he comes across, Josh stays strong in his determination to see justice be brought about in each situation he finds himself in.

Josh is just an overall likable character. And that's quite an important thing, too since he's the only consistent character throughout the whole series (except for Jason who becomes his partner for a while in season two). The moral code Josh has, his stance on justice, and his willingness to protect the innocent are some things about him that causes admiration. He doesn't seem to care about what others think of him, and is willing to go against the masses to stand with what he believes is true.

And don't get me started on how fun it is to see him with the cute kiddos that occasionally appear on the show. There's just this soft, understanding side that comes out of Josh whenever he's around and/or talking with a little kid that we don't always see in him. For example, there's one episode where this little boy wants to hire Josh to find Santa Claus, and all the other men around him are just laughing at the little squirt about it. But Josh just listens, takes him seriously, and cares about his feelings; and that's one thing I really love about his character toward kids, especially in that episode. :)

So, Josh is a great guy, no mistake there. However, all of this great moral character of his though doesn't mean that he doesn't have his flaws. He does drink, gamble, and can't seem to help himself from flirting with certain beautiful women he runs into -- who usually happen to be saloon gals. But, despite those cringe-worthy, flirtatious moments when he tries to be romantic, he does show a respect for women overall, which is, of course, always a noteworthy attribute.

One thing that I think would have been a great addition to this series is if there was actually a good, moral lady that Josh liked who continually showed up throughout different episodes, and whom he ends up marrying in the end. But alas... The very few girls that I think would be right for Josh only really show up for one episode, and then move on and never show themselves again.

                                          (I actually don't remember who this lady was... but it's such a sweet picture though, don'tchya think? :) )

Oh, but anyway. So, there's not a certain fabulous "ship" that I've found for Josh in the series yet, but oh well. :P
So, even with his and the show's occasional little quirks, it's still very enjoyable to watch, and I'm so glad my family and I came across it! We first discovered Wanted: Dead or Alive last year on MeTV. We somehow got quite into it and liked Steve Mcqueen's character a lot, and so decided to look the cool dude up to find out more about him. Well, when we first looked up Steve McQueen on Wikipedia, it was a little saddening to read about his rough childhood and and untimely death at fifty years old.

But then, one night when I was supposed to be asleep, I was on my phone while sitting in bed and noticed that I still had the Wikipedia page for him up. That's when I scrolled past something it said about him becoming a Christian toward the end of his life. I immediately looked into this further, read some articles and such about it (like this one), and found out that this really was true! I also discovered that there's even a documentary film all about how he came to Christ (which I still need and very much want to see). And so, of course, I WAS SO HAPPY ABOUT THIS I JUST could have ran around our house a dozen times or something. xD Now, whenever I watch Wanted (or anything else with Steve Mcqueen in it... which isn't really a lot of other things, but anywho), it adds that extra happiness to it just knowing that in his real life he finally found true life and peace in Jesus.

So yes. Much happiness. :)

Now, back to the show... ;D

I suppose I should also say a little something about Jason as well. Even though he only becomes Josh's partner for a little while during the second season, he's still a character to be noted. He's not the most iconic or perfect sidekick ever. He, too has his flaws, and at times is irritatingly naive, but most of the time, he's a pretty good partner to have along. He helps out Josh a lot in several episodes, and learns much from him about bounty hunting... and maybe even teaches Josh a few things in the process as well.

(Addionally, Jason has a look that could perhaps remind one of Woody from Toy Story... hmm.) *thinks up some highly unlikely conspiracy theory of how Jason was actually Pixar's true inspiration for the character of Woody*  XD

So yep. Wanted: Dead or Alive is just a good, fun, likable show. It gives ya all the western vibes. (I mean, obviously, pfft... that's a pretty redundant statement for a clearly western show. :P) Anyway. I do enjoy that there's a mix of both the serious and humorous throughout the series. Some episodes are more on a serious level, while there are a few that are just downright hilarious. There are some episodes, however, that don't have much of an ending at all or just leave you a bit befuddled at the end of it; or those few times when the writers push Josh out of his normal, smart character. (Like when he starts to fall in love with this lady prisoner, and just... like, WHAT. ARE. YOU. DOING. JOSH. STOP. WHAT DID THOSE WRITERS DO TO YOU.)

But then there are a lot of really great episodes as well with clever plots. So, you sometimes get a bit of a mixed bag as far as the stories go. But overall, it's really just a good show with some good stories and good characters. I believe it's definitely worth a watch... especially if you're a fan of classic westerns and/or Steve McQueen!

So there ya go! There's a bit about Wanted: Dead or Alive, and a few thoughts/rambles of mine about it! I could probably go on for a lot longer about this show, but I'll stop there for now. I'm sorry if this was a bit more of a ramble than a review, but whatever it was, I hope that perhaps it made you interested in checking this show out, or, if you've already seen it, made you fangirl smile a little at least. :)

Well, thanks so much for reading, y'all! This week sure has been a heap o' fun! I'm looking forward to going back and reading through some of the other western-y posts from this week! And you can check out all these other great posts as well that everyone else contributed here!

Thanks so much to Olivia, Heidi, and Hamlette for hosting this rip-roarin' party! I'm so happy that Legends of Western Cinema Week happened once again, and hopefully it will be a thing next year as well! ;D

Have an awesome week, everyone! Write to ya later, and God bless! *Waves cowboy hat in farewell*
~Faith

P.S. Have you ever seen Wanted: Dead or Alive? What did you think of it? Tell me your thoughts!

Just for a laugh... Legends of Western Cinema Edition!!

Howdy, friends!

I'm thrilled to be participating in this week's blog party, Legends of Western Cinema Week hosted by Olivia, Heidi, and Hamlette!

I thought it'd be fun to do another edition of my "Just for a laugh" series. And this time -- to commemorate this momentous blog party occasion -- we have a western-themed one! So, pull up a chair, sit back, and go ahead and have a good laugh! :D (Oh, but before you sit back, make sure your seat has a back to it first...)

xD Alrighty, let's get into this, shall we?

~~~~~

Person: "Old westerns are boring."
Me and my classic western-loving friends:

Tsk tsk.....



WHY IS THIS SO TRUE IN EVERY WESTERN??
(And I know, I know, I stole this one from Olivia.... but it was just too good to pass up... ;) )



Hush up and give Mr. Eastwood his coffee!


When you ask a quiet person what they're thinking...

Indeed.....

Oh NO you don't!



Hmm... I guess whoever was coming up with the name must have thought it sounded cooler than "The Ranger and Tonto". xD

What world do you live in??

No way!

*Hopes all my Shakiest Gun in the West peeps get this meme* :P

"And how many cookies did you really have?"

So, the truth comes out!

And now, to wrap up all this wild west fun, here's a few funny western-themed skits for y'all! Enjoy! :D

Well, that sure was fun! I hope y'all had a good laugh there, and had as much fun as I did with putting all these memes/videos together! Be sure to check out all the rest of the blog party excitement over at Olivia, Heidi, and Hamlette's blogs!

Write to ya later, and God bless!

~Faith

P.S. Which was your favorite meme and/or video? Do you like westerns? Which western is your favorite? Let me know in the comments!

Another Update of Sorts + The #AwesomeBloggerAward!

*Suddenly noticing my blog and how neglected it's been lately*

Oh... well, hello again!

I greatly apologize for my absence lately. Again. Yes, I've been busy with school and church and life and everything else...... But I don't want this just to be another update post on why I'm not posting regularly (especially since it's basically for the same reasons as I said last time), so I'll just provide you with some quick updates, and then get into a fun award that I was recently tagged for -- how about that? :)

Firstly, not too long ago I completed an online college course that had tight deadlines. These deadlines, while they were sometimes quite inconvenient and annoying, were actually very helpful for me, especially since I haven't in the past always been the best with time management. So anyway, this got me to thinking about my 3rd year blogiversary Q&A post that I was supposed to do *cough*abouteightmonthsago*cough*. (I know, this sounds like I'm totally going off topic, but just stay with me...) So, I put these two things together in my mind and realized that in order to truly get this Q&A post finished and posted, I probably need to make some sort of deadline for myself in order to truly get this accomplished.

So... That's why I'm letting you guys know that I will be posting my answers to y'all's Q&A questions that you asked me back at my 3rd year blogiversary by July 31st! (I guess it's now more like my 3rd and a half year blogiversary... but it will still be fun. :) )

"But, Faith, why not post it just next week??"

Well, that's the another thing I was going to tell you guys about...

You see, there's something very exciting happening this coming week! No, it's not as exciting of a thing as someone getting married or having a baby or something like that. Definitely not. But in the blogosphere world, it's quite a fun thing... to anyone who likes westerns anyway. XD

Okay okay, I'll stop beating around the bush...

I'm going to be participating in a fun blog party, the Legends of Western Cinema Week!

My good blogging friend, Olivia over at her blog, Meanwhile in Rivendell shall be hosting it along with Heidi of Along the Brandywine and Hamlette of Hamlette's Soliliquy. I participated in this blog party a couple years ago, writing one post for it, so I'm excited to be able to be apart of it again! I'm rather looking forward to this, I must say. xD (And if you'd like to participate as well, I'm sure you can! Just let one of the hostesses know you'll be posting something for the blog party!)

Alrighty! Now, I think that's all the updates I have for the moment. Let's get on with the tag! :)

Kaitlyn over at her blog, Twin Thoughts tagged me for the #Awesome Blogger Award! Thank you so much for tagging me, Kaitlyn!

Here are the officially official rules for this awesome tag:

-Tag your post with #awesome blogger award

-Answer all the questions given to you

-Nominate at least 5 bloggers and inform them of their nomination

-Give them 10 new questions to answer

Sounds reasonable enough. Alright, let's get started! :D

1. What is one thing that make you sparkle? (Something that you get excited about)

There are a lot of things. XD One thing I always get excited about is hearing people's testimonies of either how they came to know Christ or how He has healed or helped them in some way, etc. I get so excited on the inside when I hear testimonies like that, especially someone's journey of how they found Jesus!

2. What is your favorite musical instrument?

The piano's probably my favorite (since it's the one I can play best), but I really enjoy hearing people play the violin and guitar, and would really like to learn how to play them someday.

3. If you could visit any place in the world, where would you go?

AHH, there are so many places I'd like to visit! I'd especially enjoy visiting some place in Europe, like maybe Switzerland, and see the Alps!

4. What is your 'theme song'? (This could be an all-time favorite, or a song that describes your situation)

Hmmmm... Sunday School Rock by Carman has always been a favorite of mine. I grew up with the song, and it's always kinda been my jam. ;)

But, as for more of a "theme song", like one that describes my situation or one that's really touched me... I'd have to say Good Good Father by Chris Tomlin. I had heard this song for a while, but then, one Sunday a while back at church when we were singing it, one of the lines just really struck a chord in me. Now whenever I hear that song it just really resonates with me. God's such a good GOOD Father!!

5. What's your favorite thing about blogging?

One of my favorite things has been being able to get to know other Christian bloggers through my blog!

6. Of all of your hobbies, what is your favorite and how did you get started on it?

Writing and coming up with stories has always been a favorite hobby of mine (that hopefully I can turn into more than a hobby someday!) I'm not sure how exactly I got started with writing stories as I've been doing it for as long as I can remember. Some of the earliest stories I wrote were written on several folded pieces of paper stapled together, made to look like a book. And, when I was younger, I'd like going out in our yard and come up with pretend scenarios for movies or tv shows that I would then act out to myself. :P

7. Who is your favorite author, and which of their books is your favorite?

I honestly don't know who my favorite author is... there are so many good ones! One of my favorite books right now though is Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. I enjoyed her writing style  a lot in this one, and hope to look into some of her other books.

8. Which is your favorite book of the Bible, and why?

I'd probably pick John right now. (But again, like authors, there are so many good ones!) I love reading about Jesus and what He did and taught while He was here on the earth. I want to learn to follow Jesus as best as I can, and one of the best ways to do that I think is to read and learn about Him, Who He is, and what He did while on the earth in the Gospels. :)

9. Which of the four seasons best describes your personality?

Ooh, hmm... Maybe Spring? I get excited and happy over little things, want to make others happy and feel appreciated (I hope I do that), I always like to laugh, always enjoy a happy ending, and like brighter and pastel colors. You will rarely see me wear black unless I'm wearing it with another color. 

I guess though I don't always show my excitement or "springyness" like that ^^ xD on the outside as much as I want to sometimes. If I'm really happy about something, it seems like I tend to hide my full excitement on the inside because I'm concerned about what other people will think of me. But that's one thing that God's been dealing with me about lately -- to not care so much about what others think, and just encourage people and say what the Holy Spirit is leading me to say or do without concerning myself with what others will think.

10. What is one thing that God has taught you recently?

Well, I suppose what I said up there for one thing, hehe. But along with that, another thing that God's taught me recently is that He lives inside me. I know it sounds simple, and I've known all of my life that when I accepted Him as my Lord and Savior that His Spirit came and now lives on the inside of me. But recently, God has just been making that more real to me. I've been learning to not put faith in just my own faith or what I can do, but put faith in God, and focus on Him, because He is going to do the work He wants done through me, not me. I just have to obey and trust. That's it. I don't have to do what God wants me to do all on my own. I just need to listen and do what He's telling me to do, and let HIM do the healing, the restoring, and the transforming!
(Hmm, that was maybe more than one thing, but oh well. xD)

That was fun! I tag.......

Christina @ Light Unto My Path

Olivia @ Meanwhile in Rivendell

Emma @ A Bookworm's Majestic Adventures

Faith @ Stories by Firefly!
Abby @ Novels, Dragons, and Wardrobe Doors

And here are your questions, ladies!
1. What is one thing that makes you sparkle? (Something that you get excited about)
2. What is your favorite color to wear?
3. What is your favorite song right now?
4. What is a favorite Bible verse of yours at the moment, and why does it resonate with you right now? 
5. What is a book (besides the Bible) that you would always recommend to someone?
6. What is a movie and/or book that you've wanted to watch/read for a long time, but haven't gotten around to it yet?
7. What is one thing that not a lot of people know about you?
8. How did you come up with your blog name? 
9. Which of the four seasons best describes your personality?
10. What is one thing that God has taught you recently?

I look forward to reading all you awesome bloggers' answers to these questions! (Of course, though if you'd rather not do this tag, that's completely fine, too!)

Okay, well I think that about wraps it up for today! It's so great to finally be back to blogging again after my rather long, unexpected hiatus I took there. I hope you enjoyed this post, and hope you're having a wonderful day!

Write to ya later, and God bless!

~Faith

Happy New Year + Happy Valentine's Day + An update of sorts

Happy New Year! Happy Valentine's Day!

Hello hello.

How has y'all's New Year been going so far? How was your Valentine's Day? I hope all of you wonderful people have been doing well! :)

So... I've been rather absent here since Christmas, haven't I? Except for that last Super Bowl/sports post thing, I haven't done any real blogging since last year...

So, what's been going on? Where have I been? What have I been up to? Am I ever going to start blogging consistently? .(..And whatever happened to that Q&A post I was supposed to be doing for my 3rd year blogiversary back in November?? Heh heh...)

Well, friends, let me tell ya.

First off, yes, I WANT to start blogging more consistently. But then the answers to these other questions above have been kind of keeping me from being able to do that. Where have I been? What have I been up to? What's been going on?

Well, mainly right now for me it's been... College. Yes, indeed, college.

I've been mainly studying for CLEP exams, which has been going pretty good! (What are CLEP exams, you ask? In a nutshell they're basically exams you can take to get out of taking a regular one semester college class, and by passing the exam, you earn the same college credit you would in that class. They can save you a lot of time and money! I would definitely recommend looking into them, fellow college friends! Make sure to check out the official CLEP website to find out more about it. It's definitely worth looking into!)

So anywho, yeah, that's what I've been doing a lot of recently. But besides that, a few other random things I've been doing with my year so far has been... keeping the score book at my brother's basketball games, winning a free Dominoes pizza (two different times) from a halftime 3-point shot competition thing at two of said basketball games, seeing and hanging out with friends at basketball games... yeah, a lot of basketball games. xD Especially last month anyway. But besides that, there's been church, Bible studies, sending out church letters and calendars, taking care of adorable, yet mischievous kitties, tidying up around the house, trying to ACTUALLY write and work on my stories, finally getting my driver's license, celebrating my birthday.... and now trying to get back into blogging!

Alright. But what about that other question... the Q&A? Whatever happened to that???

Okay.

So.

This Q&A WILL happen.

Eventually.

IT WILL.

Just be patient with me, guys. :P

So, as I'm trying to get back into blogging more, one other thing that I thought would be fun, and hopefully motivating for me, would be to blog about my college adventures I'm now up to! I've been on the college road since September of last year, but it seems like I'm just now really picking up on it, and I'd like to share some of the things I'm doing for college, helpful programs/websites/etc. I've found, and just share my learning experience with you all so that maybe you can learn something about how to do college better, too! And I also would like to share more of my story writing projects that I've been working on some as well. So... we'll see how that goes! ;)

Anywho, that's all for now. I just wanted to come say "hi" again, and give you all an update of sorts. I really do hope to be able to do more with this blog this year!

I hope you're having a lovely evening, and I'll write to ya later! God bless! :D
~Faith

Dedication // God vs. The Super Bowl

Happy New Year! How has your all's year been going so far? :)

So yes, I realize that I should probably have done some sort of New Years thing for my first post of the year, but this is just something I've been thinking about today and thought it just needed to be said, so... here ya go!

So. Today is the day. The BIG day. The day that all the frenzied football fanatics everywhere gather together with friends and family around their TVs to watch -- yes, my friends -- none other than the great Super Bowl.

I'm not much into watching football or the Super Bowl myself. So of course, because of this, I'm not very dedicated to watching this big game and all that. I mean, if I go to a Super Bowl party (which is a rather rare occasion), I'd honestly just mainly be there for the socialization and snacks. Pretty much.

#I'dratherbewatchingTheSoundofMusic

So yeah, basically my not caring so much for the game makes me to look at some of the super dedicated fans of it in a bit of awe. It's so interesting to see how pumped and excited people can be for something..... something as seemingly simple as a man throwing a leather ball to another guy who runs as fast as he can while the other team tries to clobber him. Thrilling, eh? I mean I get it, it is rather impressive the length that those guys can throw the ball, and how fast they can run, etc. But... well yeah, you get what I'm saying. At least I think you do... Do you?

BASICALLY WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY IS that I've been thinking a lot about this today... that is, how people get so excited and pumped and dedicated to the Super Bowl, and football in general really. It's incredible. And as I've watched this phenomenon more and more, over time, I got to thinking about it in a different way than I had before.

Recently, there was a football game on TV that either my dad or one of my brothers were flipping past one day. I wasn't really involved in watching it; I was just passing through the room when I saw people and players running out on the field at the end of the game, jumping, shouting, and SO EXCITED. Then I stopped. I watched all these joyful, excited, exuberant people. They were so excited, I suddenly thought with an internal chuckle, "Did someone just get saved? You would think so..." Then it hit me. If these people can be so excited about winning a temporary football game... Christians should go WILD when someone accepts Jesus as their Lord, and is saved from eternal torment! How EXCITING is that?!?! I thought. Christians should be SO MUCH MORE excited about this, right?! Why aren't more excited when someone gets saved?! Why haven't... I been more excited....?

So, I started thinking more about this lately. And especially today with the Super Bowl happening and all, I've begun to wonder...

What if Christians were as dedicated and excited and pumped about God and what He's done like people are about sports?

What if we treated God and His Word like so many do football and the Super Bowl? What if we spent hundreds, or even thousands of dollars to be able to get a seat in an outdoor arena in the cold of winter to be able to hear God's Word preached and taught to us, to be able to praise and worship and go wild about Jesus with other like-minded believers, and to be able to see God work miracles in people's lives?

WHAT IF WE SO ESTEEMED GOD AND HIS WORD LIKE THAT? Like all these other dedicated people, who paint their faces and cheer and shout, excited, exhilarated, invigorated -- all in hope of a football player catching a ball and running down a field across a line in order to make a touchdown to outscore the other team. What if we were as excited as they are about what God did and is doing??

GUYS. We have SUCH a greater hope, SUCH greater news than a certain football team winning a game that will be soon forgotten in years to come. We have an ETERNAL, LASTING hope! An ETERNAL, LASTING destination with God in Heaven! Jesus scored the ultimate touchdown -- He loved us so much, so he decided that he would touch down to earth to come and save us from all our sin! The God who created this whole universe -- who created YOU -- KNOWS you and LOVES you and CARES about you SO MUCH! WHAT AWESOME NEWS THIS IS!!!

So guys...

Seriously.

Let's get more excited about God!!!!! If people in this world can be so excited like they are about a football game that will only last for one day -- HOW MUCH MORE excited should we be about this amazing hope that we have in our Lord Jesus, and in His grace and mercy toward us that will last FOREVER AND EVER!!! WE SHOULD BE SOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!

Oh come on, y'all, it's okay! You can get excited for things like this... we were created for it!!! Let's not hold back our excitement and joy for our Great God and in what He's done for us!!!

"Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before His presence with singing. Know that the Lord, He is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. 
For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations." 
~Psalm 100

Don't ever forget how loved you are by your Heavenly Father, and never be afraid to show your excitement for Him! :) Of course, we don't HAVE to take time to praise and worship and show excitement for God -- He will of course still love us just the same! But He's been so good and done so much for us... why don't we do something for Him for a change? He deserves and is worthy of our praise!

I hope all of you have a great rest of your evening, and I'll write to ya later! God bless!

~Faith

P.S. If you like football and watching the Super Bowl, please don't think that I'm trying to say that that's a bad thing -- I'm just trying to say that we need to keep our priorities straight. Watching and playing sports is fine, but as God's Children, our relationship with our Father should come FIRST and should be placed ABOVE all these other things. So, please don't let me spoil your Super Bowl/ football fun... just always remember to keep God FIRST in everything you watch and do! :)

But Daddy Said

Well... Christmas just blew by, didn't it?! And now here we are -- New Year's Eve!!!

So, with Christmas flying by so quickly I didn't get to post all the things I had wanted to for the 12 Days of Christmas blog party I participated in this year. I was happy that I was at least able to do two posts, but there was especially this one that I had pretty much finished that I was planning to post Christmas Eve... but unfortunately, I never actually got around to it. But instead of waiting another whole year, I decided, why not just share this post now and have a little after-Christmas party? So... here it is! :)

Growing up, our parents never did the whole Santa thing with my siblings and me. We've joked around about Santa Claus sometimes, and even usually leave cookies and milk for "Santa" -- but we were always told and knew that it was really Mommy and Daddy leaving us presents, and that the jolly old bearded man who is said to live in the freezing North Pole with his happy little elves, making toys for good children and mining coal for the bad ones, was all just make believe. So, of course, when my parents told me he wasn't real, I believed them. I trusted them, not giving it a second thought.

But when I was around five or six years old, my trust was put to the test. One evening (I think it was Christmas Eve) me and some of the other kids at our church were standing outside on the church porch after a service, probably getting ready to leave to go back home.

So we were out there chattering and such when one of the older girls pointed up suddenly and said to me, "Look! It's Santa's sleigh! There!"

I jerked my head up and searched the night sky for a second. "Aw, you missed it," she said.

And then our conversation continued something like this...

"You were just joking," I said back to her.

"No! I really saw it; Santa's sleigh was really there."

I stared up at the moon bright in the sky that night, searching deep into my thoughts for some explanation. And then the thought hit me... IS Santa actually real? Is she kidding? But why would she lie to me? She keeps saying it's true... Maybe it... IS true...

This older girl kept insisting it was indeed true, that his sleigh really was just in the sky. I can just imagine now the mischievous fun she must of had messing with my innocent little five or six year old mind.

It wasn't too awfully long before I came to myself, however. Daddy and Mommy told me Santa wasn't real. They wouldn't lie to me. I knew that. So, I chose to believe them instead of this girl. I put what my parents said above what she had said.

Most of us would probably say that we trust our parents more than other people we don't know as well. Especially when we were little, and didn't know doubt like we do now, we would believe and trust anything our parents told us was true because we trusted them.

So, I was thinking... How much more then should we trust and believe our Heavenly Daddy and in what He tells us is true above what others say?

Even if our parents are the best parents in the world, God is still a much better Father to us than they could ever be. Like Jesus says in Matthew 7:11, "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"

If we've had good, loving, caring parents all our lives, we've built a trust in them. We know we can trust them because we know their character. But sadly, a lot of people, even confessing Christians, don't seem to know much about God's character -- so because of this, they don't fully trust Him. They think He's the one causing all their problems and is out to get them; they think they can never know what God will do. They think He is breaking and hurting them.

But this isn't what God is like at all! God is a trustworthy Father. He is faithful. He is love. God doesn't give us problems -- He gives us answers! I think there are actually many times when we forget that there's a devil in this world, too. God isn't the bad guy. The devil is the one who's doing the killing, stealing, and destroying here on this earth and in our lives -- not God! God is working to help us out of those messes the devil tries sending our way. And He sent Jesus to this earth to give us life -- and not only that -- but life more abundantly! (John 10:10)

If we knew just how good our Heavenly Father is to us, more than even our earthly parents, then how easy it should be to trust in Him and what He says! When we know we can trust God, we can, much easier, be able to take Him at His word. When the devil tries to play with our head and throw a lie in our face, we can think back to what our Daddy told us is really true. When the enemy tells us the lie that we can't do something, we remember the truth that our Daddy said we could do all things through Him. (Phil. 4:13) When the enemy tells us that we're all alone, we remember the truth that Daddy said He would never leave us or forsake us. (Heb. 13:5) When the enemy tells us we're a loser, we remember the truth that Daddy said that we're more than conquerors through Him who loved us. (Rom. 8:37)

We can be like Jesus when the devil tried to tempt Him in the wilderness. (Matt. 4:1-11) When the devil throws a temptation or lie our way, we should be saying right back to him, like Jesus said, "'It is written!' What my Father says is the truth of the matter, and I choose to believe and trust Him -- not you."

God really is good. He loves us so much. And one big way you can especially see His love is through the Christmas story -- when he sent His only Son, Jesus into the world to die for us and pay for our sins. He did all that so we could have relationship with Him, have an abundant life here, and be able to be with Him for all eternity.

When you grow up a Christian your whole life, I think it can sometimes be easy to become passive about the whole Christmas story and Jesus' resurrection. But maybe we should think about it in this way... God didn't have to send Jesus for us. I'm sure God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and all the angels up there could have just stayed right where they were and had a fine time up in Heaven without giving another thought to all of us down here after Adam disobeyed in the very beginning. God didn't have to make the extra effort for us by sending us His Son to save us... but He did. He chose to. Why? Because of how much He loves us!

John 3:16 makes it very clear just how much God loves all of us -- he "SO loved the world"! He didn't just love us -- He SO loved us! And that is why that first Christmas happened. Because of God's great love for every person here on this earth. There would be no Christmas if God hadn't "so loved the world". But He did so love us. That's why we celebrate Christmas.

And that's why we truly can trust our Daddy and in what He tells us is true. <3

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas, and I pray that you will have a fresh revelation of God's Love this New Year's Eve and throughout the coming year! Happy 2019 to each and every one of you, and God bless!! Write to ya next year! :D
~Faith

Christmas movies I want to watch // 12 Days of Christmas Blog Party

Ahh, Christmas movies. I feel like I've been watching quite a few of them lately, but there are still those ones that I've thought and thought about watching, but just haven't gotten around to yet. Are there movies like that for you? Ones that you've thought for a long time, "I should watch that sometime", but have never taken the time to actually either get the movie from the library, or find it on Amazon/Netflix/etc., and so they just keep lingering on your "to be watched" list for days... and months... and years? Oh come on, I know I'm not the only one who does this... am I?

Well anywho, I thought I'd share some Christmas movies that I've been wanting to watch for a while now. (Maybe it will help motivate me to actually get to watching them, who knows. :P)

The Nativity Story

I've heard many good things about this movie from several friends now, and I think it's high time that I got to watching this! It looks like it would be a beautiful retelling of the first Christmas.

It's a Wonderful Life

I KNOW. It's probably some sort of crime that I've never actually seen this classic film, but I'd really like to right this "wrong" this Christmas season.

Miracle on 34th Street

Yes, again, another classic Christmas movie that I still haven't seen yet! What is the world coming to?! But I'd really like to see this one sometime and experience this "classic-ness" that I've missed all these years. ;)

The Man Who Invented Christmas

My mom and I have seen several previews for this one, and it looks like it would be a rather fun, interesting watch! (Of course though, it would have been nice if they had come up with a different title for this -- obviously Charles Dickens or his book, A Christmas Carol did not invent Christmas... JESUS DID, PEOPLE. ;) )

Elf

I've heard and seen things around about this movie for quite sometime now, and it looks like it might be a fun one... I kinda want to give it a try. xD

Christmas Oranges

I remember seeing a preview for this on Amazon last Christmas, and it appealed to me quite a bit, but for some reason I never got around to actually watching it. Hopefully this year!

Christmas for a Dollar

Yet another one that I've seen around the Christmas-movie-watching sphere but have never gotten around to watching yet. I just saw the other day another fellow blogger's post about how this was one of her favorite Christmas movies, and it made me want to watch it even more!

Hmmm.... *suddenly ponders* Well... maybe I should stop working on this post then and actually get to watching these movies instead of just talking about them... That's a thought. ;)

Oh, but before I go I must ask you guys -- Have you seen any of these movies? How did you like them? Which one would you especially recommend? Or is there one that you think I shouldn't waste my time on? :P I'd love to hear any thoughts you might have on these!

Also, don't forget to head on over to Stories by Firefly for more Christmas fun with the 12 Days of Christmas blog party going on!

Write to ya later! God bless!

~Faith