The Fourth Man // Short Story

"God will protect you. You will see, Amalie."

"I wish I could believe that, Mother."

     A rough hand ripped the blindfold off my face. I blinked, taking in the beauty of sight once again. I noted four men at the campsite: The two who held up the stagecoach and captured me; a chunky, older-looking one; and one lone man crouched down by the campfire. The chunky man, apparently the outfit's leader, looked me over with a crooked grin.
     "Good work, gentleman. I'm sure your uncle will be more than happy to pay for your safe return, Miss De Bois. Tie her up."
     "My uncle?" The two stage robbers grabbed my arms. "B-but," I managed. "My name is Amalie Mundy, not De Bois. I've only traveled out here to teach school in Manitou..."
     "Teach School!" The leader guffawed, along with his two partners who were now tying my hands and waist around a nearby tree. Their leader turned toward the campfire. "Ya hear that, Big Mike? Everett Debois, richest man this side of the Rockies... his niece is a little ol' schoolteacher!"
     The fourth man crouched by the fire now stood up slowly, his height exceeding the chunky man's by at least a foot. His mouth stayed in a steady line.
     "Oh, well, Mike," the chunky man said, laughter still lingering in his voice. He turned back toward me. "I reckon you can't expect a man to obtain our sense of humor in just two days. You'll get used to our work soon enough."
     Big Mike rested both hands on the end of his rifle. "I don't plan to get used to it."
     The chunky man turned back around. "Oh, now, Big Mike, what are you talking abo..."
     My eyes widened. Big Mike now had the rifle pointed right at his leader.
     "Untie her."
     A few moments later, I found myself being hoisted up onto Big Mike's horse, and the three outlaws tied in my place. "I know'd we shouldn't a trusted 'im!" was the last thing I heard of the rogues as we rode toward town.
     Big Mike let me down beside the main road at the edge of the town of Manitou. He stayed seated on his horse.
     "You can inform the sheriff about the outlaws," he said. "I have other business to attend to."
     All this time, I hadn't found any words to say. But now, I finally found my voice. "Oh, yes, I will. Thank you... very much, Mr. Mike, I... I don't know how I can ever repay you."
     "You don't have to."
     "But... I owe you my life."
     He smiled slightly, shaking his head. "You only owe God that."
     I looked carefully into his face. "Why should I owe God that? You were the one who saved me from those outlaws. I don't see what you mean." Just then, a wagon rushed by, and I turned to look.
     "You will see, Amalie."
     I swirled back around at the familiar words. He was gone.

~~~~~~~~~~

Hello again, guys! I've missed you all and this blog so much! I wasn't exactly sure how to go about re-entering the blogging world after my unexpected year-long hiatus... so, I thought, why not just throw one of my short stories out there? So, here we are!

I wrote this piece last year for Brooklyne's flash fiction story contest that she hosted last fall on her blog. My story actually ended up winning, which was, of course, quite exciting! But then, just recently, I realized that I never did post that story here on my blog... So, here it is, finally! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. :) 

The challenge of telling a story in so little words was actually a lot more fun and interesting than I thought it would be. It reminded me again of the power of words -- and how much one little word or sentence can tell. Reading through this story once again also reminded me of the Lord's protection He surrounds us with when we trust in Him, and even through the prayers of others in our life, and how much the Lord works for us behind the scenes. And sometimes we don't even realize or think about it until we're out of the trouble.

As I look back on this past year, 2020, there have been a lot of negative points to which I could focus on, as I'm sure all of us could do with this year -- or any year really. But then, I remember how much the Lord has brought me through and out of, how He has always been by my side, how He has protected me at every turn. The fact that you and I are still alive today in the midst of everything, is a miracle in and of itself. The Lord has likely even protected us from things we won't ever know about until we go to be with Him in Heaven. 

So, as we look back on 2020, let's remember the good things the Lord has done for us. Even through all the trials, the hardships, the heartaches... the Lord has delivered us -- and is continuing to deliver us -- out of them ALL.

Praying that all of you have a very blessed New Year! God bless, and I'll write to ya again -- hopefully sooner than later! :)

~Faith

The Grand 3rd/4th Year Blogiversary Q&A Post!!!

Hello again! How are you all? It's so good to get back to blogging again!

So, guys... Guess what day it is?

It's my blog's 4th birthday!!! And that means of course, much excitement abounds!!!

However... it also means that it's been a whole year now since I first asked for questions for that special 3rd year blogiversary Q&A I was going to do. And, as you can clearly see, I never did actually post that Q&A last year (or by July 31st like I said I was going to in another more recent post... D:).

So, of course, I have been quite disappointed with myself over this. I feel bad for being lazy and not sticking with the plan and working harder to keep my word in posting this for my 3rd blogiversary last year like I said I was going to. So, I wanted to apologize to you all. I will try much harder in the future to post what I say I'm going to post in a much more timely fashion. I truly am sorry, guys.

But, I suppose...... the phrase "better late than never" could be applied quite well in this situation, right? At least I finally AM posting it, even if it is quite late.

Also, before I start with the questions, I wanted to give more of an actual reason of why it's taken me so long to answer these questions, besides using the excuse of just plain laziness...
So, one thing that actually held me up on this Q&A were honestly the questions about what the future of this blog was to be, or what I wanted it to be. And the thing is... I wasn't exactly sure (and I'm STILL not exactly sure at this very moment) what all I want to happen with this blog in the future or where I see it going (but I definitely do have ideas, some in which I will tell about in my answers). So, I guess since I didn't feel like I had a very good answer for those questions, I kind of just skipped over them, answering the rest first. And then, when I came back around to those more thoughtful questions about the future, it seemed like I was never able to put down a satisfactory answer to them. But... NO MORE. Even if I don't know everything, I shall answer these questions as best I can. :)

Thank you SO MUCH to Brooklyne, Faith, and Olivia for all the questions you all asked me last year for this special Q&A! And now... to FINALLY get to answering them!

Welcome to The Grand 3rd/4th Year Blogiversary Q&A, everyone!! Let's gooooo!!!

Brooklyne's questions:

What has been the biggest thing you have learned from your blogging experience? 
I think one of the biggest things I've learned is to not be so concerned with how many or few followers I have. To think more about quality than quantity. And another big thing I've been learning through blogging, too, is to not second guess myself so much by worrying about my writing not being good enough to share with others.

Where do you see your blog in the next three years? 

Okay. So. Here we go... XD

One main dream and goal that I've always had is to write books. So, as I write those books and get them published, I see myself using this blog as one way to help share some of those stories with you guys. In the next three years, I see it as more of a place where I'm sharing more of my stories and testimonies, a place where people continue to be encouraged and reminded of who they are in Christ and how to use their own gifts and talents for the glory of God especially, and a place where I can provide more helps in those areas through my writing, as well as through videos/vlogs, and maybe even graphic design. Also, creating and selling Christian t-shirts is also an idea that my brother and I are thinking and working on right now, so that might become a thing I do here as well.

So yeah, I'm still just figuring it all out. But that's kind of a general idea of the direction I'd like to head.

If you were to give a friend wanting to start a blog a tip about blog design, what would it be?

Hmm, well, one tip I'd give is to not have too many clashing patterns or colors. If you have a header like my current one with a picture with more patterns and things going on in it, you usually don't want to have a really patterny background. I have a basic white, shimmering lights-looking background on mine right now that doesn't clash much with the look of the header but instead (hopefully) compliments it.

What has been the hardest part about blogging? 

Keeping up with it mainly, and posting regularly... as you could probably tell by now! :P Real life has tended to get in the way of this blog many times (which I suppose isn't always a bad thing necessarily as it is more important to focus on our "real life" more than our internet/social media life overall).

What has been the best thing about blogging?

One of the best things has been getting to meet and know so many other Christian bloggers here in the "blogosphere"! :) I had no idea before I started blogging just how many other Christian bloggers were out there writing great, God-honoring things! It's really encouraging to see so many people of this generation out there spreading the good news through the internet.

What made you want to start a blog?

Reading other blogs, my love for writing, and my mom's encouragement were the main reason I started a blog. I had secretly wanted to start one for some time before I actually did, but I hadn't really said anything to my parents about it since I was so busy (and a little behind) with school and other things at the time. So, because of that, I thought they might not think it would be the best idea for me to spend so much time keeping up with a silly little blog. But then one day, my mom and I were talking about blogs and she mentioned to me that I should start one and could put my writing and photography and other things like that on there. So, I gladly told her that I'd very much like that, and got right on it! :)

Dogs or cats? 

Cats. :) (We have kittens right now and THEY ARE ADORABLE!)

(Behold the cuteness! XD)

Sweet or savory? 

Hmmm... It really just depends on what I'm in the mood for at the time. Sometimes I'm just in a mood for sweet things, and then other times I really crave something savory. But if I HAD to choose? Ohhhh..... I guess I'd probably pick sweet... No, savory. Well, again, it just really depends. xD

Winter or summer? 

Can I say both? No? Well, alright. I'll pick summer because of the longer daylight and not having to take time to bundle up before going outside. I enjoy being outside a lot, so summer is a nice time of year. (But I really enjoy winter as well because snow, and Christmas, and sledding, and hot chocolate, and fireplaces, and crisp cool air, etc. xD There's just something great about every season I think. :) ) 

Hot chocolate or coffee...or ice cream?

Oooohhhh. Well, I'm not a coffee person, but I really enjoy hot chocolate and ice cream. Hmm... I'll choose ice cream!

Audio book or paperback?

Paperback. I actually haven't listened to a whole lot of audio books, to be honest... I feel like if I did listen to an audio book though, I'd want to be reading along in the book as I'm listening... which I guess kind of defeats the purpose of an audio book? xD I should probably take time to listen to more audio books though so I can actually have a better opinion of them. :P

Favorite music?

I like lots of different kinds of music! I mainly listen to either Christian or instrumental music. But as for what genre of music... it just really depends on what I'm in the mood for. During Christmas time, it's Christmas music, of course! (And it's almost that time of year again! HOW??) On occasion I like old-timey sounding music (like from the 40s and 50s), especially with Christmas songs. 

I usually enjoy variety in music and not listening to the same sounding songs all the time. But there's always kind of those "phases" that I sometimes go through with listening to certain songs and/or a certain genre/sound (if that made any sense what I just said. xD). Anyway, so a few favorite artists of mine are Carman, Jamie Grace, The Lads, and Steven Curtis Chapman. And a few favorite songs of mine right now are Glorious Unfolding by Steven Curtis Chapman, Five Sparrows by God Rocks, and So Will I by Hillsong.

Please do yourself a favor and watch and listen to this amazingly beautiful lyric video and song all the way through.  <3

Favorite movie (or TV show)?

I have many favorite movies! Once again... it just really just depends on what I'm in the mood for. (Can you tell yet that I sometimes have trouble picking favorites? :P) But okay okay... one favorite of mine is Beyond the Mask.

And as for a TV show, a have quite a few favorites of those as well. But, as of right now, I think my favorite would either be Wanted: Dead or Alive or Daniel Boone. A lot of times older shows tend to have better moral value to them than many shows nowadays, which causes me to generally lean toward liking older shows better. (Not that I don't like some newer ones, too, but older shows will always hold a special place in my heart. <3)

Favorite holiday? 

Christmas has always been one of my favorites!

Favorite color? 

Pink! (Of course, I enjoy many other colors as well, but ever since I was little, pink just continues to be at the top of the list for some reason. xD)

Favorite book? 

Well, my favorite book would definitely be the Bible. :) But I'm assuming you're meaning a favorite fictional one, so... that's a bit of a tougher choice. Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher and By the Great Horn Spoon by Sid Fleischman have been a couple favorites recently.

Favorite author? 

I don't think I really have a favorite author. I have favorite books... but, hmm... Maybe Sid Fleischman? I especially enjoy his different writing styles and characters in the books that I've read by him so far.

Favorite fall/winter activity?

I always like doing things outside (unless it's super cold). One thing I've always really enjoyed doing is sledding and/or playing out in the snow with my siblings. As we've gotten older, we haven't done that as much of course, but I really enjoy it when we do have time to all go and have fun out in the snow together. :)

Favorite hobby?

Writing and coming up with stories has always been a favorite hobby of mine (that I really hope to turn into more than a hobby someday!).

If you could plan a perfect vacation, what would it look like? 

Alright. SO. I would make a basic schedule, especially if I was vacationing somewhere where there are a lot of historic sights and/or places to go see. I would write it down, which thing to see which day, and try to follow it as best I could. On the first day, I might sleep in more, but most the rest of the days, I would try hard to get up earlier in the morning so that I could get out and do as many things as possible and stay on schedule. Now, I wouldn't have a super strict schedule; there would still be some leg room in there to do random stuff and such that comes up, so yeah. It would still be super fun and we would get to see and do lots of fun things!! ;)

So, that's for the basic schedule... but maybe you were meaning more of the kind of vacation place that I think would be "perfect." :P Well, since flying out to Colorado for the first time last summer and staying in a nice cabin out there with my family, I think something like that would be a great vacation! :) Staying in a nicely furnished cabin/house like the one we stayed in with all the lovely pine and aspen trees surrounding it was great fun! The only things that could have been enhanced to make it more "perfect" I suppose would be if it had more of a view of the mountains from the cabin, didn't have other houses so close to it, and had a pool and/or hot tub. I think that would be just about perfect! ;D

(From our trip! It was so purty out there!)

But, you know, there's also a lot more details and such and other locations (like the Swiss Alps, for example) that I'd like to go to as well, but I won't get into all that right now as it would probably take me much too long. :P

If you suddenly received your dream car, what would it be?

I honestly don't really have a "dream car" that I've always wanted. My mom has a Mercury that's quite nice that I drive sometimes. I like how easy it is to handle and the spaciousness of it. I think I would like a car that's similar to that one in a white, light blue, or burgundy red. 

What is one of your goals for this coming year, 2019?

One of my goals that I made at the beginning of this year was to finish and publish one of my stories. *Glances back at how that's coming along* Soooo, yeah... most of this year hasn't seen much progress with that. But I still have like, two more months right? I set myself a sort of unofficial NaNoWriMo goal to get my "Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe" story at least halfway finished by the end of the month. So, hopefully I can get at least the first draft of that story done by the end of the year... We'll see how that goes though. :P

But now, as for THIS coming year, 2020, I have the same goal again as I had this year: To actually finish and publish one of my stories. (Especially since, at this point in the year now, I don't think that getting a full-length story actually all edited and published by the end of this year is going to be a very realistic goal for me with school, church, work, and everything else going on in my life right now.)

What does a typical day look like for you?

Well, it really kind of varies. But most days, I get up and read my Bible and/or pray some in the morning (Though, sometimes I don't always honestly do the best on that and need to work on doing that better...); eat breakfast; do school; do church work (working on our church's website, sending out church calendars/letters, making event graphics, etc.); do some chores and work around the house; usually help with making supper; hang out with my family in the evening (sometimes playing a game on the computer with my younger brother, or watching a movie/show with my family); and, at the end of the day when I go to bed, I've gotten in the habit of writing something good that happened that day or something I'm thankful for down in my journal. :)

Of course though, there are usually always other extra things that get thrown in different days along with these main things; like sometimes I go to an event or a friend's house, or do other work around the house like mowing or gardening, etc. And sometimes, like today, I even find time to actually write or blog! XD

Do you have any siblings?

Yes, I have three great brothers. :)

Do you live in the city or county? 

In the country, and I wouldn't want it any other way! We don't live on a farm (YET... we've been looking around), but we currently live around a few farms.

(View from our backyard last winter! *heart eyes*)

Faith's questions:

What inspired you to start a blog?

*Points up to Brooklyne's sixth question* XD

What's your favorite thing about blogging?

I kind of already answered this with Brooklyne's question as well, but again, my favorite thing I think is just being able to meet other Christian bloggers through it!

Do you have a vision/projection for this blog one year from now? 

Well, now being a year since this question was originally asked, I certainly didn't envision this blog to be at pretty much the same place as it was last year... which is basically what has happened.

*re-evaluating my blogging life*

But anyway. What's done is done. As for a year from NOW though... here it is:

So, not too long ago, I got more of a vision for this blog that I was really excited about at the time. Part of that vision was for it to become more of a place to help encourage and equip others to use their gifts, the things that they "like", for the glory of God. (Because it's called "I Like That"... get it? Well, maybe it sounded more clever at the time I first thought of it... xD ) But then, a little bit went by, and I didn't do much about this new idea, and then later I was second guessing it and everything... But now, as I'm thinking about it again, I believe that's still part of the direction I'd like to head with this blog, along with sharing more of my stories here, like I said in Brooklyne's question up there.

So yeah, I haven't really taken a lot of time to actually just sit down and lay out a solid plan, but that's a little bit of insight into what I think will be part of my plan for this blog within this next year. In short, my main goal and vision for this blog is simply this: To continue to glorify God and bring others closer to Him. <3

Are you a homeschool grad?

Yes, I am! I feel so blessed that my mom took so much of her precious time to homeschool my siblings and me; it was a wonderful experience. <3

Favorite candy?

Kit-Kats and Twix! Actually, it's funny, I was just talking to one of my cousins not too long ago about favorite candies and he agreed that Kit-Kats and Twix are one of the best, and I was all like...

But I definitely won't turn down other kinds of candy though, especially if they're chocolate-related. ;)

Olivia's Questions:

Have you watched any "newer" musicals, like Phantom of the Opera or Les Miserables or anything like that?

No, I haven't watched those, but I have seen Mary Poppins Returns and The Greatest Showman, which I suppose are kind of more "newer" musicals. :)

What is your favorite thing about each season?

AHHHH, there are so many things I enjoy about the different seasons! But I'll try to actually answer the question right and just say ONE favorite thing I like about each:

-In the Winter, I enjoy the snow, and the colder weather, and the coziness of being inside a warm house in front of a fire, and sweaters and fuzzy blankets and warm drinks (hot chocolate especially) and...... (Alright, I'm sorry, I'm already breaking the rules and saying more than one thing... :P)

-In the Spring, I enjoy the freshness in the air, and the newness about everything as things begin to grow and the weather becomes warmer.

-In the Summer, I like being able to go out without having to bundle up warm first, and the longer days, and fireflies, and summer evenings, and picnics, and.... (Oops, sorry there I go again...)

-In the Fall, I like how the weather becomes cooler, the smell and sound of crispy fallen leaves, and the nostalgic feeling of how it's soon going to be Thanksgiving and Christmas once again. :)

Do you ever dream about what your wedding (especially your wedding dress) might look like? ;)

Yes! I mean really, what girl doesn't? ;) (Well, maybe there actually are some girls out there who don't dream about stuff like that, but... well, the majority of girls I think do. xD) Anyway. YES. I do dream about that many times.

I've gone back and forth between whether I'd want pink to be the main wedding color. Pink, as I said before, is one of my favorite colors. ;) I think light pink bridesmaid dresses would be lovely, but I personally wouldn't prefer the groom and groomsmen to have pink ties or bows.... so.... (yeah, I maybe have thought about this some. :P)

And as for wedding dresses... these are some styles that I like a lot:

ALL THE BEAUTIFUL LACE.

But, of course, as I've gotten older I've realized that as much as I want a perfectly lovely wedding and beautiful wedding dress, the true, bigger importance and desire of mine would be to just get to be with the man I love and who God's called me to be with, even if the wedding wasn't everything I initially dreamed it to be. :)

Do you like Disney movies?

I'm not a die-hard fan of them by any means, but I do enjoy some. It just really depends on the movie. Cinderella and Christopher Robin are a couple newer-ish Disney movies that I liked a lot.

~~~~~~~~~~~

YES! I did it! I FINALLY finished and posted this Q & A!!!

Thank you so much, ladies for all these lovely questions!! Again, I apologize for how extremely long it's taken me to get to actually doing and posting this. But, I FINALLY got it done...YAY!! And if you took the time to actually read through all of it... CONGRATS! You win a virtual plate of chocolate chip cookies! *Gives out special blogiversary chocolate chip cookies* xD So, thanks so much for reading, guys! I hope you all enjoyed it. :)

Well, I do hope you all have a wonderful rest of your week! Write to ya later, and God bless!

~Faith

3rd Blogiversary!!! // Q & A?!

On this day, three years ago... I started this blog!!!!!!

It's just amazing. How did it get to be three years already?!? I was just doing a post for my 2nd blogiversary, wasn't I?

Getting to meet and talk with so many of you lovely people has been one of the biggest blessings of blogging. Thank you all SO MUCH for reading and following this here blog of mine! You all are awesome, you really are. :) I want you to know how much I love and appreciate each and every one of you guys! And more importantly, never forget how much God loves and appreciates you, too!! It's been such a fun journey so far, and I look forward to what God has in store for me and this blog in the next year!

So. I think that's all I wanted to say...

...........

........

I think....

Alright, well................

So, I have been trying to figure out something special to do for this here blogiversary. I mean, it's a special one; three is an important number! I wanted to post SOMETHING on my actual blogiversary day though, so... this is what I finally came up with.

I've thought and thought and thought about doing this, and so....... I just decided this very moment I'm typing this right now that.... why not just go for it??

*Cue epic drumroll*

I'm going to do a what bloggery people call... a Q & A!

In a special post I shall answer any questions you guys may have about me and/or my blog here! (Well, except for really personal questions like my full name or what street I live on or something equally creepy... :P). So, if you have any questions you would like to ask me, ask them in the comments below of THIS POST, and sometime (hopefully) this month I'll get to answering them! 

(And no, of course I didn't steal this Q&A idea from anywhere.... especially not from Olivia or anything......... Where would you get such a thought.......?? :P) Thanks so much, Olivia for inspiring me with this idea. ^_^

Well, I believe that's all I have to say for now. I hope all of you have an absolutely wonderful week, and I'll write to ya later! God bless you guys!! :)
~Faith

P.S.
Soooooo.... I was checking back to make sure that the day I actually started my blog was indeed today, November 5th. Well, it turns out that last year I posted on November 5th, but somewhere on my blog thing it says I joined November 6th....... so. I'm honestly not exactly sure. Maybe I messed up last year with the date. Oh well. It's somewhere around November 5th, so we're just going to go with it. ;P

**The picture used in the graphic at the beginning of the post is my own**

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

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! :)

Just for a laugh... Christmas Edition!

Well, my friends, here we are, just like we always dreamed... IT'S LESS THAN TWO WEEKS TILL CHRISTMAS!!!

How did this happen??? It seems much too early for Christmas to be upon us once again! Well, no matter... Let's go ahead and get to celebrating this most wonderful time of the year with some laughter, shall we? :D

~~~~~

Oh dear! Thanks so much for taking care of it for us while we were gone...

Hmm... good advice, Doc. Thanks.

Those Finlanders, let me tell ya...

REALLY? WHO KNEW! Well... I guess Mary did.

A most essential item for a ninja to have on hand, especially during the winter months.



"Oh, honey, I'm sorry... I know it's not that frozen now, being out under the tree all night and all, but we can always put it back in the freezer for a while..."



Who needs to shake packages to find out what's in them when you can lie on them instead?



BUT BUT... I HAVE TO TRY ONE OF EVERYTHING, RIGHT???

"Mary had a little Lamb Who washed us white as snow!"

And, to wrap up, here's a fun Christmas video by Studio C for you all about how the Wise Men supposedly did their Christmas Shopping! ;) Enjoy!

I hope you all are having a wonderful, joyful Christmas Season so far, and have a fantastic rest of your day!
~Faith

**Pictures/videos not my own; all images/videos are from Pinterest, YouTube, and Google**

2nd Blogiversary!

Hey guys! So guess what? It's been exactly two years since I first started this blog!!!

So, yep. :)

Have a great day, everyone!

.............

..............

Ooookay, so I guess I should have more to say than that for two years of blogging, shouldn't I? Well... alrighty then.

It's been a fun two years. :) I have no idea where the time has gotten to... but here we are two years later nonetheless. The first year, I didn't really post much on my blog here, usually only putting on something every few months or so. But recently, I've actually been fairly consistent with posting, which has been nice. I've also been so blessed by all of you guys who follow, read, and/or comment on this blog! I've made some wonderful friends here that I'm so grateful for. Thank you all so much! :)

So... what else to add? (To be completely honest, I actually just decided on doing a post for this special occasion just sort of last minute... otherwise I maybe could have put together a much better, more extraordinary post for you all... but alas...)

Oh yes -- perhaps I should share a few favorite posts I've done so far on my blog here? People do that on these kind of posts, right? ...Well, whether they do or not, here ya go. :)

Just in time...

The Hare & The Tortoise (a politically correct version)

Just ENJOY It!

Just for a laugh

A Savior Alive // A belated Easter poem

Headers and Kitties and Cuteness, Oh My!

My Top Five Favorite Westerns

Imitating Love

Okay... so that was maybe more than a few... :P

Well anywho, to wrap up this little celebration, I wanted to say that it's been absolutely awesome being part of this wonderful Blogosphere for these past two years with all of you, and I look forward to what God has for me and this blog in the next year and beyond! Thanks so much to you guys once again for all the support and encouragement you've given; it means so much. :)
You guys are the best, and whether you read every post and comment on everything here, or just come by for a quick look once and a while, either way, I just wanted to let you know...

Keep being awesome, y'all. :) Have a wonderful week!
~Faith

P.S. Also, I apologize for not doing a Thankful Thursdays post this past week... Hopefully, I'll be able to continue the series this week. Stay tuned!