Draw Near to God

I was reading in Hebrews this morning and this passage just struck me. So then I went and looked up some more verses on the subject.

Hebrews 10:22-24

Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

James 4:8

Come near to God and he will come near to you. 

Psalm 73:28

But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.

Goodbye Christmas

Merry Christmas! I know it is technically a day late, but I didn't really feel like writing on Christmas day. ;)

I had a pretty awesome Christmas, which we actually celebrated on Christmas eve. We opened our stockings, then played one of worlds longest games of Life. I actually won by a tiny margin. That night we went to a candle lit service, which was probably one of the most beautiful ones I've seen. On Christmas day, we had a nice meal and then... *cough* we took down all of our decorations. I had the bad timing to get a fever (I'm telling you, ether Ceder Fever or I am going to leave Texas, and I do not intend to leave my 85 degree Christmas. Yeah, so here's hoping Ceder Fever ends soon.)

So I spent most of yesterday on my window seat reading and trying to keep cool. That night I packed up my decorations. That was no small task because my two huge shelf's full of books had been packed up during the holiday and had to be unpacked and reorganized.

And then there was a tradition's my family has had for years now. On the day after Christmas, all the girls in our house go on a huge shopping day. That was today and the term shop till you drop actually seemed to apply. I am now fully convinced that Family Christian Store is the best place for buying music, Hobby Lobby best (I knew that before, but reaffirming never hurt), and I am glad these trips only come once a year or I would be perpetually bankrupt.

 Now I saying goodbye to the holiday season with cleaning, writing to-do lists, and trying to finish up a few last minute projects before next year.

How did your Christmas go?
Did you do any after Christmas shopping?

Hearts Longing

This is some poetry I wrote this month. 

My heart longs eternally for so many things

It longs for the things I've lost

They are gone forever

Never to return

They left a yearning whole inside of me.

They are lost, gone forever

Yet my heart wants them back oh so badly

It is desperate for a way for them to return

My hear longs eternally for so many things

It longs for things I have

They seem like they are with me

But they are so far away

I can’t help but long

For them even though they are here.

I want it back to its original condition

But its already damaged

My heart longs eternally for so many things

It longs for things that I do not yet have

They are coming

I can feel it

They are beautiful things

Things that have been coming for years

And I just can’t wait till they are here.

My heart longs for so many things

It makes me wish they would hurry up and get here.

My heart longs for things it has never seen 

It wants places I’ve never been 

An ache forms when I cannot be there

I tell myself I cannot possibly care 

But my heart tells me that is not true

That we most certainly can and do

Do you long for things you've never seen?

When You Fail Resalutions

Rosemary flowers. =)

This little guy was not afraid of me taking his photo. Well, just so long as I did not touch his food. ;D

Isn't this door awesome?!? =D

Alright, I'll be honest, I did horrible on my 2016 resolutions. I won't go through the long painful list of things I didn't accomplish, I'll just tell you there were a lot of them. I had goals for education, writing, physical, relationships, spiritual, and lots of random ones. And I'm telling you, one year ago, I was super excited to set down those resolutions. I was excited to promise that I would do better and that I would accomplish a lot. 

And here I am a year later with a pitiful amount of those done. I had no idea a year that so much would change in just twelve short months. I had no idea how hard this year would be, or how rewarding. Especially during the beginning of this year I went through one of the hardest times of my life so far. I was faced with some issues I had never dealt with before and a lot of things that made me rethink my motivations. Later this year I have gone through some very exciting times. Things are happening I had pretty much given up hope on. 

And you know what, all that stuff pretty much wrecked my resolutions. I failed at almost every single thing on my list, and right now, I'm okay with that. Because what I did this year were things I never would have put on my list. I learned stuff I didn't even know I needed to learn and I felt a depth of connection with God I never have felt before. Thats not something you can just do whenever you like. That was on God's list for me this year. 

So what if I did fail at my resolutions? God had something else for me in mind and I am very glad He led me, even if I did drag my feet. 

Did you fail at your resolutions?
What is the biggest thing you've learned this year?

Stand Firm

Hello! I found some really awesome verses on (You guessed it) standing firm, and I wanted to share them with y'all!

Isaiah 7:9 

If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.

1 Corinthians 16:13 

Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.

Psalm 20:6-8 

Now this I know:

The Lord gives victory to his anointed.

He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary

with the victorious power of his right hand.

Some trust in chariots and some in horses,

but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

They are brought to their knees and fall,

but we rise up and stand firm.

Proverbs 10:25 

When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone, but the righteous stand firm forever.

1 Corinthians 15:58 

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

What is your favorite verse on standing firm? 

The Angel that Wore Tennis Shoes

Edge of a pond.

Well guys, this week I got to play an angel in our local walk through nativity. I think it was a pretty bad miscast but its fun. ;)

One of the things I love about playing in things like this is the people I get to act with. 

We got to the church and got into costume. I have these bulky wings that stick out about half a foot on each side so I had to turn sideways to walk down most hallways and get into doors. And yes, I was wearing tennis shoes, because this nativity is one where it repeats as people walk through. My feat hurt even while wearing the good shoes. I texted friends, nervous about our first performance. And then it started and.... it went fine. 

During one of the performances, I stood up to give my line to the shepherds, and my halo fell off. I managed not to burst out laughing through my line and when I was done speaking and the attention turned off of me I snatched my halo and put it on. I got up to do my line again and it fell off just before I started talking so I managed to shove it up my sleeve before I started. When we got to the stable I put it back on. This time I secured it. 

Another time the wise men accidentally gave Jesus two things of Myrrh. When that happened the whole cast there, wise men, angels, shepherds, Mary and Joseph all fought to keep from bursting out with laughter. The tour ended and we all had a good laugh, including the guy who had made the mistake. 

I sang Silent Night enough times that I now hope to not hear it for at least another year. 

Overall, it was an awesome experience.

Have you ever been a part of a live nativity? If not, have you seen one that you really like? 

Love is Not Self Seeking || A One Sentance Dialoge

Its been six months since I posted one of these. I've really missed them. If you have not read the other parts of this story, I would suggest you do that, because they really only make sense if you read them in order. You can read the first part here, the second here and the third here.

Where to next?

The post office.

We’ve been there many times.

I know.

Do you ever tire of going?

Only on occasion.

But you’re not tired now?

No.

I’m glad.

Thank you.

Have your letters been more cheerful?

Yes.

Has your friend gotten better?

No.

Then how come they are happy?

Because she has taken a step in the right direction.

That has made you so happy?

You have no idea what one step can do to a person.

Were you the one that helped her decide to take the step?

No.

Oh?

God decided to bring someone else to do it.

But you’ve been the one writing to her, correct?

Correct.

And you’re the one encouraging her.

Yes.

Then don’t you feel as though He let someone else have your glory?

No.

Why not?

Because it was never mine to begin with.

Why not?

Because I was never going to cure her.

Oh?

God was always going to do that.

But not through you?

God choose to use someone other than me.

Why?

I don’t know, and I don’t really care.

Not at all?

No, not really.

Then I’ll take you to the post office now.

Thank you.

I do have one last question.

What?

Didn’t you want just a bit of the credit?

No.

Then I was right.

What?

You’re a fool.

Perhaps. 

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. 

Okay, I need your thoughts, do you want to read more in this series? 

November Highlights

Hello everyone! I posted a grand total of five times last month. Sorry about that! I let myself get distracted by NaNo, and life, then it was the weekend, and I got a cold and... yeah I've been really bad about actually posting. But, I am determined to get back to my normal posting this month.

Today I'm going to share highlights from my month. I have no idea what I'm doing, so I'm just winging it. Here we go!

I got to help paint my local food pantry when it moved buildings. We covered over life's worst shade of yellow with beige. I'm not a fan of beige, but it was better then the yellow. You should have seen it, it was hideous.

This was actually a different color, this was the less hideous of the two colors we were painting over. 

Right there in the corner you can see a tiny bit of the nasty yellow.

I got evacuated from a building when the fire alarm went off. I actually found this surprisingly fun. Especially since there was no real emergency and now I can appropriately write about being ushered out of a building by a electronic voice coming over the loudspeaker saying "A state of emergency has been declared in the building, please exit immediately."


I wrote 50,000 in Flight from Kelar. That makes it my longest book ever. And I'm not even done yet!
I had my first word war. (Thank you Grace!) and I'm pretty sure that's what helped motivate me to finish NaNo.

I got myself soaking wet taking photos of dew and it was awesome. You should try it, really, its fun.

My family went to Fredricksburge, like we do every year right after Thanksgiving. I had a upset stomach and was unable to eat lunch because of it. (A horrible thing in my world) At one point when we were walking around I was honestly wondering who's nice flowers I was going to throw up into, but thankfully God spared me that. We met up with my cousins and I felt totally better after about thirty minutes with them. I'd love to think it was me going through withdraw from seeing my cousins, but my logic tells me it was the prayers that made me better. We went to see Christmas lights, and got home late, but it was an awesome day!

I got to play Capture the Flag for the first time in four years this month. Since that is one of my favorite games, it was awesome!

We are gearing up for the production of the live nativity, so I had two practices this month! This is the forth year I'll be participating, and I'm still playing an angle. Horrible miscast on their part. ;) This was the first ever year I missed dress rehearsal, but I really didn't feel guilty because we were hanging out with some really awesome people.

I was able to take a walk at a ridiculously late hour. My siblings who were on the walk to were walking ahead, and I just hung back and enjoyed the moonlight. I ended up texting a friend to, which was awesome.

We went on a beautiful hike, as seen in this post.

We got to meet up with my cousins twice after not having seen them for several years! They are an amazing band, you can find out more about them here.

From left to right, the back row: Liza, Beecher, Sarah, me, Ezra and Asa. Front row: Rose, Rebekkah and Grace.

I had the pleasure of meeting up with sevral amazing writers. We normally just talk about crazy random stuff, but this time we actually talked about writing a lot! *Lowers voice* and then we started talking about super random stuff.

I've been biking since January of last year. Meaning every once and awhile I hop on my bike and take a trek down the road for fun. Well, this month, I got down my road and... my tire went flat. I pumped it up and kept going, but it went flat again about ten minutes later. Now, I probably should have been a responsible kid and called someone to pick me up. But no, I was going to make it home so I stopped about every fifteen minutes and pumped up that tire until I got to my destination and back. It was surprisingly easy, but since my pump fell apart while I was doing it, it made it a bit harder.

Ah yes, one of the best parts of the month. I managed to find TobyMac's CD This is Not a Test on sale for super cheep. Now its on pretty much constant repeat in my room.

A grand total of nine. This actually was not great for me, but I was really happy I got that many during NaNoWriMo. 

As you can probably tell I'm rereading the Nancy Drew series.

These are some amazing posts that I read this month. Sorry there are so many, but I had trouble getting it down to just this.

Break Through Burning Youth

Just Like That Summer of 1999

That Hope Twilight to Dawn

Happy November Totally Graced

Moving On Green Gables of Avonlea

Deep Thoughts... The Introverted Extrovert

Week Review Spreading My Joy

As of Late The Relentless Daydreamer

How I Budget Time The Barefoot Gal

What No One Wants To Say About Gratitude Burning Youth

Fall Morning Photos Every Bit of Lovely


What are some of your highlights from November?