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

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

NO Condemnation // Bible Study Blog Party

Hey there! Welcome, everyone to the Bible Study Blog Party!

LET'S GET THIS STUDY PARTY STARTED!!

From today, May 28th, to June 9th we're going to be reading and blogging about Romans 8! Anyone can participate, and if you would like to find out exactly how this all works and want to join in, look back at my original post about this.

Romans 8 is such an awesome chapter. As I was reading through it again last night, I started getting so excited -- I was so glad I chose this chapter for the Bible study! One thing is that a lot of it seems to be telling of the benefits of being in Christ. It's a great reminder of who we are and what we have in Him! Take the very first verse for instance:

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit."

You may have read this verse before and have been like, "Okay, yeah. That's cool. No condemnation, nice." But seriously, think about that. That's GREAT news! We don't have to be or feel condemned if we have Christ living in us!

But then, why do we as Christians still feel condemned sometimes?

I think so many times we equate our worth with what we do or have done in this life. And when we haven't done enough or have messed up, we personally start beating ourselves up about it. We unknowingly crack the door open for the enemy to slip a little condemnation through into us. It's not God who's condemning us when we're doing these wrong things, it's the devil. It says right there in that verse that there's "NO condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus."

Of course, God will convict us when we're doing wrong, but condemnation and conviction are two different things. Condemnation causes our focus to be on ourselves, on our failures, and on how bad we are. Conviction causes us to focus on doing better, on improving ourselves, and on going up higher in what we think and do.

We need to get our focus off of ourselves, our performance, and our works. Who we are and how much God loves us isn't affected by what we've done. Like it says in 2 Timothy 1:9, "[God] has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began..."

You are saved and called by God's grace! And because of that, those who are "in Christ Jesus", who have accepted them as their Lord and Savior, don't need to be condemned about anything! We need to and will be convicted by the Holy Spirit at times, but we need to take the focus off of ourselves and accept that conviction without mixing in the enemy's condemnation with it. We're free from ALL condemnation in Jesus! What WONDERFUL news!!!

So, those were just a few things God has showed me from Romans 8:1. I've personally felt quite a lot of condemnation from the enemy in my life before, so this verse has really spoken to me a lot. Knowing that God loves me for just me, not for my accomplishments or what I've done is such an amazingly freeing feeling! And then, when I realize God's love for me and what He's done, trusting and focusing fully on Him, it causes me, in turn, to be convicted by the Spirit to do the right things and do good works for Him as well!

What about you? What did you get out of this verse? What has God taught you through this verse? Share in the comments below!

~~~~~

The party is just beginning, and I'm excited for what's to come! If you're participating, be sure to put the link to any posts you may do in the comments of the Bible Study Blog Party introduction post.

Hope all of you are having a fabulous start to your week! God bless! :)
~Faith

Bible Study Blog Party Introduction

I've had this idea for a little while now, but I thought that it was about time that I should just go ahead and strike out on it. So, here it is...

A Bible Study Blog Party!

"Now what in the world would a Bible Study Blog Party be?" you may ask.

Well, it would basically be a sort of combination of a Bible study and blog party -- hence the name. It's like a blog party in that there's a theme, and then those who want to participate write posts on their blog(s) centering around that theme. Well, with this, those who want to participate would all read through the same chapter/passage (say John 1 for example) and then post on their blogs and/or comment on other participating blogs sharing their thoughts and what they learned in John 1, kind of like in a Bible study. You can do various types of posts for this as well, even sharing a song or story, as long as it's centered around the highlighted chapter or verse for that Bible Study Blog Party.

I thought this might be a good and fun way to study the Word of God together, and to see a same passage of scripture from different angles and perspectives.

I said at the beginning that I've had this idea for a while now. But I've honestly been sort of hesitant about doing it for some reason or another. Well, so, this past weekend my family and I were at a Christian conference, and the speakers' messages connected really well with each other and they taught from a lot of the sames scriptures without even really planning to do so. While saying something about this, the host of the conference said that maybe they ought to have a conference where all the speakers just preach on one verse or passage, and and teach it from different angles. When he said that, immediately the idea I had had for the Bible study blog party came to my mind. "Hey," I thought. "that's basically just what I was trying to do with the blog bible study thing!" So, turning this idea over in my mind again with fresh motivation, I decided to just go ahead and do this -- so here we are! :)

I'll be hosting this first Bible Study Blog Party from May 28th-June 9th! The chapter we will be reading and studying is Romans 8! I believe God is going to teach us all some great things through this chapter, guys! I'm so excited!! :D

How to participate in the Bible Study Blog Party:

1. Before reading or writing or anything, ask God to help you to understand what you read and to teach you through His Word and in other participants posts you read as well.
2. Read the assigned chapter(s)/verse(s).
3. While reading, remember to not just read the chapter/passage looking for things you can blog about. Look for what you yourself can learn from this, whether you end up writing a blog post about it or not. And don't try and rush through reading it. Take your time, listen to the Holy Spirit, and dig in. If one particular verse just sticks out at you, stick with it! Take your time -- we need to not just read to read, we should be reading to learn from God! (That's something I really didn't want to do with this... I didn't want us all to just rush through reading the chapter and write up something just because we have to for the Bible study. I definitely want to encourage everyone, including myself, to take time to read in order to learn more from and about our Heavenly Father!)
4. On your blog or through comments on other participants blogs, share your thoughts on the chapter/passage, what stuck out to you, favorite verses, etc., and like I said before, you could share a song or story or something like that centered around the highlighted passage as well. It's a wonderful thing to encourage and share what God's teaching us with each other! 
5. Make sure to link the post(s) you do on your blog for the Bible Study Blog Party down below in the comments on this post so others participating can read what you wrote and also so I can easily be able to find them all to list in my closing post at the end of the study party. (Hehe, 'study party'... you never thought you'd see those two words together, did you? xD)
6. And of course... Have fun! :D

So, does all of that make sense? If not, let me know and I'll try to clarify as best as I can. Any suggestions on what chapter/book/verse might be good to read, study, and discuss together in future "study parties"?

I'm SO excited, you guys!! Please spread the word around the blogosphere about this and let others know if they'd also like to participate! But whether a bunch of you all join in on this or just a couple, I believe we're still going to have a great time in God's Word either way!

Here's also a couple of buttons you can use to spread the word around about the party! :D

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week! Write to you later!
~Faith

6 Distractions Bloggers Can Probably Relate To

Ah, blogging. What a fun life we bloggers lead. I mean, it's so easy to come up with and write posts and put them up regularly and all that, you know? Such a breeze. AM I RIGHT OR WHAT??

Okay... so no, not really (as I'm sure you could tell by the plethora of blogging I've gotten done this year... heh :P) It seems hard to not get distracted whilst trying to craft the perfect blog post and trying to keep up with your blog. So here's a list of six things I've found to be pretty big distractions for the average teen/early 20s blogger person.

1. Pinterest
Pinterest is amazing, don't get me wrong. And it's a wonderful tool, especially for bloggers. But -- as we all know -- there is SO MUCH to find on this site that it can be a two-edged sword at times. You might just be getting on to find one nice sunset picture to go along with some blog post you're writing, and then suddenly find yourself looking at a pin of how to do your hair up to make it look like a bow.

^ Basically what browsing through Pinterest is like.

2. Social Media
Other social media platforms can be just as distracting as Pinterest, maybe even more at times. Or maybe not. Or maybe so. Who knows. All I know is that it's quite a big distraction.

3. Food
Sometimes food can be a motivator, but then other times it seems like it's just an excuse to take a break and slack off. When you're mind goes blank with what to write, you might say to yourself, "Well... maybe I can get those creative juices flowing by just taking a little break... in the kitchen..."

This might just be one of the cutest gifs I've ever seen... =D

4. Other People
People are wonderful, they're absolutely wonderful! But when you're trying to focus on writing or doing something with you're blog, and someone interrupts you to ask you about something... or they need to get on the computer you're on...

5. GIFs
So maybe not every blogger gets distracted with trying to find the perfect gifs for their posts... but...... I probably know of at least one who does..... heh.

6. Real Life
Of course, we bloggers always have high hopes of posting regularly, maybe on a certain day each week or something like that. But then it suddenly hits us that we actually have real lives in the real world and things don't always go as smoothly in real life as we plan them to. And we can't usually be working on or writing something for our blog at a certain time each day right when we want to and have this meticulously perfect plan of how we keep up our blog (unless blogging is your actual job and it's the main thing you do in life).

~~~~~~~~~~

So, our real lives often get in the way of our blogging lives. But you know what... that's actually not really a bad thing. I think a lot of times we put social media/blogging/computer things higher on our priority list than just living life and spending valuable time we won't get back with family and friends in the real world without really meaning to. (I've caught myself doing this too many times unfortunately...)

We've been given this amazing life, the chance to make a real difference in this world. I keep needing to remind myself not to waste it all on earthly things that won't last. It's of course not bad to spend time on social media and the like occasionally, but I realize that I need to watch myself that I don't let it dominate my life and I start becoming obsessed with it.

In fact, I've discovered one easy way to tell if you're addicted or obsessed with something: If you're constantly or regularly thinking about that thing. 

I found this out one night a while back. My younger brother had gotten the game Minecraft. Well, so I decided one day that I would try it out and play a little bit. Needless to say, I got a little too into it. But for a little while I didn't even really realize how engrossed I had become in the game. One night, however, I finally came to reason. As I was lying in bed getting ready to go to sleep, I suddenly caught myself thinking hard about how I should construct some part of the house I was building in the game and anticipating waking up the next day to work on it. A jerking thought came to me: MineCraft is one of the only and biggest things that has been on my mind these past few days...

And so that's when I realized -- I had become addicted with this game. Once I realized that, I tried hard to stay away from it for a while and focus more on truly important things. It wasn't easy of course, but I asked God to help me with this obsession, and He did. And now, I actually hardly ever play MineCraft at all.

So basically what I'm trying to say in all this is that we all really need to take a good look at our lives and where our priorities lie. I'm definitely not trying to say that Minecraft or any other games, or even blogging for that matter are bad, but the problem begins when we start obsessing over them, or any other temporary natural thing. If we find that our priorities aren't where they should be, then we need to step back, and fix and reassess them. That's much easier said than done of course, but we CAN do it -- not alone, but with our Heavenly Father working in us and helping us along the way. Nothing is impossible with God! And if we just pray and ask Him to help us with keeping our priorities straight and put Him FIRST in everything, He WILL help us!

So guys, let's do our best to put God first in everything we do and make Him our very top priority -- even above blogging -- praying and asking Him for His help in doing so.

"Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak." ~Mark 14:38

Well, that's all for today! I hope this could be of some encouragement to all you fellow bloggers out there. :)

Have a fabulous rest of the week, everyone! Happy blogging!
~Faith


P.S. Are there any other distractions that you as a blogger face that I missed? How do you keep from getting distracted whilst blogging? Any tips for us fellow bloggers who get distracted easily?

A TODAY Mentality

Happy 2018, everyone! It's hard to believe that a whole month of this year has already flown past us! How could this have happened??? But let's not be discouraged! We still have 11 months left of this thing. We're far from over with 2018. We're still just getting started!

Maybe you didn't get much done in January. To be honest, I myself didn't get a whole lot done of what I wanted to do. I didn't start out this year with that big bang I was hoping for. For one thing, I was planning to post a lot more and do more with this blog at the beginning of the year. Did that happen? Well as you can see... no, it didn't. This is actually the first thing I've posted this year, so...

It's easy to get discouraged when you don't start out the New Year the way you hoped. When time seems to just keep flying by, not stopping long enough for you to catch up, it's easy to just give up on the things you had first planned and set out to do. But let me encourage you guys (and I'm talking to myself here as well) that it's a new day every day -- it's never too late to get started on goals or projects you may have for this year. You still have time!

BUT REMEMBER, don't take that as an excuse -- an excuse to not get things done. And maybe it's not like this with everyone, but I know that with myself, I've done this way too many times. "Faith, what are you talking about?" Okay sorry, let me back up. When you're at this age, teenage/early twenties, you have many people tell you things like, "You're so young, you have plenty of time to do that!" "Don't worry about that, you have plenty of time to get that done!"

Now, I'm definitely not saying that that's wrong to say to someone. That can be a very encouraging thing to say. I know it's been encouraging to me when I've been feeling like I've wasted a lot of time already, and it helps remind me that my life is far from over yet and that I still have plenty of time ahead of me to get the things done that I want and need to do. But... I think sometimes we take this "plenty of time" thing the wrong way. I think we do this without even realizing it. When we get it into our minds that we have "plenty of time", for some of us (not all of us, but probably quite a few) it gives us an excuse to not do anything right now. Because we tell ourselves, "Well, I have plenty of time to get that done, so I'll just put that off for now... I'll do that later... I have plenty of time..."

And, YES, we have a lot of time. We have our whole lives ahead of us. And NO, we shouldn't just rush into things because we need to hurry up and get 'er done! We need to seek God's will and not bolt into something just because everyone else is doing it or others are telling you that you need to do a certain thing.

BUT we also need to not always be putting things off for tomorrow, for next week, for next month. We don't have an unlimited amount of time here on this earth. We're all going to move on from this life eventually. Even if we live to be 120, we still need to use our time wisely here and not just sit around, waiting for that sudden burst of motivation to rise up in our veins every now and then to get us going out and doing something. We can't always do everything right away, and sometimes we have to be patient and not rush into everything right now; sometimes we need to wait until tomorrow to do the thing. But there's always SOMETHING that can be done today. Maybe you can't do the whole job today, but you can do a step. That's how we ultimately get things done, right? One step at a time.

God has a plan for your life. A GOOD one. He has things for you to do. But it's up to you if you want to follow that plan, and do the things He has for you to do. He usually doesn't give you His whole plan and a bunch of things you need to do all at once. He guides us in steps. One step at a time. We can walk in His plan for us if we'll only listen and take the steps He tells us to take. What step is God guiding you to take TODAY? What He's telling you to do might make no sense to your head right now... But if you're faithful to do that one thing, He'll give you another thing -- another step -- to do, and little by little, it will suddenly all start to make sense. God would never lead us down a path that doesn't go anywhere, or down one that leads to destruction or confusion. He only has GOOD planned for us. So let's not be afraid to follow Him, to do what He's instructing us to do, and to take the steps He's wanting us to take with Him.

So, let me ask you... What's you're goal? What's that thing that's been pressing on your heart that you know God's been leading you to start? Maybe it's just a small personal thing that you've been desiring to accomplish, like eating healthier. What can you do TODAY towards reaching that goal?

I challenge you, as well as myself, to have a today mentality. What can be done today? A lot of times I find myself always thinking to tomorrow, to the next thing that needs to be done, and not the thing that needs to be done right now, that needs to be done TODAY. But, don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying that you should never make a plan for things ahead. Plans are very important! Getting a plan together is one step in getting things done. But if we're only focused on our plans for the future and never on the here and now, we'll miss out on a lot and never actually get much of anything really done.

Psalm 118:24 says,
"This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." 

This is the day. Today. Right now. We're not talking about tomorrow... THIS day -- TODAY -- is the day the LORD has made! So come on, guys, let's go out and do something with this day the LORD has given us!

~Faith

What are the goals you want to accomplish this year? Share them down in the comments if you'd like! :)

Thankful Thursdays // Weeks Two & Three

Faith.

What are you doing?

It's Tuesday.

Tuesday.

Not Thursday.

WHAT'S GOING ON HERE??


Well... I basically had this thing ready to post this past Thursday, but then I got busy getting ready for a conference our family was going to this past weekend, and I didn't get around to finishing it and actually posting it on the day it should have been posted... But, oh, well, forget the excuses. Sometimes real life gets in the way of bloggish things... (though, that isn't really a bad thing most of the time), but here I am back, finally.
The reason I'm posting today was that I wanted to post this before this coming Thursday because I really wanted to do something on a different thankful topic for this Thursday. (I actually still need to write up that post, so hopefully it will be ready for this Thursday so I can get back on schedule with this series... well, we'll see what happens with that.)
Hopefully that all made sense; I'm sorry if that was kind of a rambly explanation. Anyway, let's get to the actual post, shall we? :P

So for the past couple weeks, I've been reading and thinking on some Scriptures on thankfulness and thanksgiving that I've been wanting to share with you all. These are a few verses that I found: (Emphasis is mine.)

"Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name." Psalm 100:4

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God..." Philippians 4:6

"Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms." Psalm 95:2


When we come to God in prayer, we should come in with a thankful attitude. It really caught my attention to find so many verses that all say about when coming to God in prayer -- "into His presence", "gates", or "courts" -- to come in with thanksgiving. We shouldn't come in with complaining, or begging, or pleading... we should come with thanksgiving! And we don't have to beg or complain or plead to God. He gives us "richly all things to enjoy!" (1 Tim. 6:17)
What if whenever you came to your parents to ask them for something, you always asked them in a begging, complaining, or ungrateful manner? Do you think they would enjoy that? Do you think that would move them more to give you that thing? Probably not. So why would we do this with our Heavenly Father? God already wants to meet our needs and help His children out -- we don't have to beg. We should come to our Father with a grateful heart and praising attitude.

And also, we shouldn't just always come to God and talk to Him only when we have a problem or want to to ask him for something. Of course we can come to God with our problems and ask Him for things -- and should do so -- but we also need to take the time to just simply praise Him and thank Him for things he's done in our lives, and talk with Him, just as we would with our earthly father or mother.

So that's what's been on my mind recently. There's a whole lot more you could pull out of these verses as well, but there's just a couple of aspects that I wanted to share with you guys today. :)

~~~

And now, here we go again! This is what I found to be thankful for these past two weeks. (I actually just now realized that with a few things I wrote the same thing on more than one day... but I guess there's no rule against it, so... :P)

Week 2:

Friday: 
- Plenty of clothes to wear

Saturday: 
- That today is Saturday!
- We got to visit a pumpkin patch and do a corn maze today - An awesome mom with whom I can talk about various things

Sunday:

- Getting to hang out with a friend I don't get to see often

- The refreshing rain (The cloudy and rainy weather at first made the day seem gloomy, but then I remembered how much we've needed a good rain, and so it made me feel more grateful to God for it and reminded me of the verse in Matthew 5 that says that He "sends rain on the just and on the unjust.")

Monday: 
- That someone invented pre-sticky/sealed envelopes
- The sunshine

Tuesday:
- The beautiful mountain views and landscape we have around our house
- The leaves on our trees changing to beautiful colors
- The weather's been just right today; not too hot and not too cold
- That it's just been a gorgeous day!

Wednesday 
- Always having plenty of food to eat
- Our adorable kitties :)
- 12 Empowerment Truths About The Prodigal Son Two Sons in Want by Terry Tripp (I started reading it today, and it's been so good!)

Thursday 
- Beautiful, gorgeous weather (again)
- Electricity
- A God Who really understands me, and helps me to understand Him and His character better every day, and helps me to see beyond my own way of thinking into His way of thinking.

Week 3:

Friday 
- I'm healthy
- Our family's camera

Saturday 
- God is always there for me, in the good times and bad
- I live in a place where I can have my own Bible and read it without fear of being arrested or killed for having one
- Great blogging friends

Sunday 
- Having indoor plumbing and electricity
- That we "gained" an hour today!

Monday 
- Being able to still spend time with my brothers raking up and jumping in leaf piles
- Great siblings that I get along with pretty well

Tuesday 
- That I have the privilege to vote for who gets elected in this country

Wednesday 
- Always having plenty of food to eat
- Hot showers

Thursday 
- We have internet access
- I've been blessed with plenty of clothes to wear
- My cute backpack that I got as a graduation gift

Well, that's all for today. Do you have a favorite verse on thankfulness?


Have a great week, everyone!
~Faith