December

Anyone that knows me knows that as Months go December is my favorite.

First of all I love Christmas, I love the cheery, colorful, elegant feel of this holiday season. Some of you may be thinking "cheery?! Really?" Because Christmas has become commercial and brings out the millions of scrooges who deal with money and moodiness. However- yes. CHEERY. I love the music, the movies, and the overall happiness that Christmas brings. I love what Christmas means in the Christian universe. Christmas is about the birth of our savior and how He came to be. How can one not be cheery thinking of the beauty of that Christmas story.

Also in Dec...I grew up in a house full of December birthdays. My fathers was Dec. 29th. My nephew who lived with us for years has a birthday on Dec. 12th and then My own birthday on Dec 6th. In my home Birthdays were celebrated and loved. It was amazing. 

Then of course theres New Years Eve. I have to wait a whole year for my favorite month to come...and where it is at the end we end it by celebrating a new beginning! How AWESOME is that?

I said all this to share with you why I love December. I hear songs about the coldness, the winter feeling of it...but December represents nothing but happiness and beauty to me. So for that reason, it is no surprise or mistake that I made December my prayer month. This month I've asked my friends to share with me a prayer request that they would like me to pray for and each day I do just that. I spend time with God lifting my friends and family up in prayer. I'm loving this time with my Savior. He is using my favorite month to bring me even closer to Him which is just another reason to love this month!

We're only 8 days in and I've seen God answering prayer! It's powerful and beautiful in one swift motion.

Some other things I'm doing in my life is- reading a book called The Anger Diet, and another called Managing Your Moods. I'm trying to get a peacefulness in my life among the difficult moments... and Praying about my path... 

Something that God just keeps laying on my heart- that I feel He's about ready to yell at me- is to write a book. If you know me well you know I've been thinking about this for a while...but for some reason as I read the books I'm reading, as I get to know myself more than I already do, and as I spend more time with Him and listen to more music... The need to write a book is getting stronger... December is my time, my month, and it's time I step up and listen! 

Something else God is dealing with me on is- don't accept fear- just go for it! I know that I'm ready! Are you? What is God laying on your heart to do? Join with me- lets do this together! It could be something small , or something big but I encourage you to do your thing as I do mine. We can help keep each other accountable and just encourage each other in Christ! How exciting is that?! ....Oh boy... it's time to Go and get started on that next path.... Blog at you later! 

Have a Merry Christmas and happy New Year if I start to slack on the blogging again! :) 

Thoughts about Christianity due to recent events

This is a post from an August 2012 note that I posted on FB and I thought I'd share it with you all! :)


I've been thinking a lot lately about Christianity and how we as Christians give ourselves a bad name in many ways. We are human it's true but just the very name of Christian USED to hold us at a higher standard. Now the very name Christian tends to come with the following words attached to it: hypocritical, judgmental, and overbearing. There are more but these are the ones I want to touch on. 

The Bible gives us Guidelines on certain things that are right and wrong but it also says not to worry about whats in our brothers eye since we have something in our own (I'm not quoting directly. Matthew 7:3. 

We are to look at a persons fruit but to look at someones direct sin and say they are going to hell it's WRONG. Instead we should love that person, and be there for them, through actions GUIDE them to the right path. We, as humans, can fix NO ONE. But God can work in the people we ask Him to. If we ask him to guide us He'll give us the right way to handle it. 

It is time for us, my Christian brothers and sisters to stand up and start doing this the right way! The way Jesus wants us to. Do you REALLY think Jesus would chastise someone who didnt have the same belief as him? What about the Woman at the well? http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+4%3A1-42&version=NIV He talked to her on her level. He gently guided her to the truth! WHAT a success story. Our Savior wants our passion, not our aggression!  

That being said- meeting someone for the first time and wanting to convert them...Not a good idea! That has "lets scare them from the Gospel" written all over it. Stop that! 

I've seen a lot of passionate Christians who want so desperately to bring Christians to Christ that they jam the gospel down everyones throat EVEN fellow Christians. We need to be compassionate as well as passionate. Take care,  my family in Christ, be there, be understanding, and know when to flip the switch that says "not right now" 

Another thing is...I've met Christians who don't often give themselves time to grow. They feel as though they need to be on ALL the time. If they forget to read the Bible once or skip prayer it scares them SO bad. I understand your concern...I do! But you are not far from God if you start to not do them so much. Find an accountability partner, ask them to help you. Find God in the smaller things. When I forget something I will often look out side (day or night) and just praise God for his Creation, or I'll glance up at my family and thank God for them. Perhaps I sign online and look at my facebook friends and pray for them...and sometimes I just read devotional if I can't bring myself to pick up my Bible (it happens sometimes) And sometimes I just write! I'll write silly things, or deep things...but it's OKAY to go through these times, because they teach us and they grow us...if we didn't have them we wouldnt go through those times of getting even closer to God! Don't be afraid to go through these times because here is something you may not realize...you WILL get through them and you will most likely be stronger because of it. I need to finish getting ready for church now. So have a blessed Sunday. I'm praying for you.

Angry- A book "review"

Hey- So I don't normally post my opinions of books that I read but seeing as I've already read like 5 books this summer maybe I should start! lol.

My most recent read is a book called Angry written by a very dear Twitter friend of mine. Mrs. Laura L. Smith. In the last year Laura has tweeted me and we've gotten to know each other. She's become a mentor and a prayer warrior in my life and I treasure the friendship that she has offered me so much.

I was finally able to read one of her books- as I just stated it is called Angry. If you haven't read it I suggest it so much! It's free today on Amazon for the Kindle but if you miss the Free copy of it- it is SO worth buying.

Angry is about a teenage girl- Emma and her life that continuously get disastrous ranging from her home life to her social life this girl gets thrown for loop after loop in situations that would make any and ALL of us ANGRY. She argues with God and just tries to figure things out. Emma is a character that we can all identify with especially young women (even young adults)  Her search for that something that she is passionate about is a fascinating journey and she finds not just 1 but two passions that change her life. Our Emma is an actress you see and she tries out for the musical "Les Mis" So if you are a fan of that musical or musicals in general I suggest this book! Laura's descriptions in this book are exquisite! She takes you through each part of the book describing everything just as though we are right there with Emma experiencing everything she's experiencing.

Before reading the book I told Laura that I thought Emma and I could probably be friends...after reading it I saw so much of myself in Emma that I was shocked, amazed and just WOWED. But like Emma I have my passions and my love for God that help defuse my anger. My crafts, writings, blogging, love for musicals & black and white movies as well as Bing Crosby music...oh and lets not forget my love for reading! :) Check it out here: Angry by Laura L. Smith

Enjoy!! :) <3

Miracles

Here lately a point that I'm passionate about keeps coming up in my life and I want to share it with you. This point is awesomely enough right at the top of my page. "God still does miracles" I think sometimes Christians can forget that God still does miracles. He also still uses us to help the miracles happen.


Lately I've found myself crying out to God for help- not sure if He'll even answer but still giving it a shot. Then I meet fellow Christians who have the view that Miracles stopped happening once the Apostles died. I have a question for you...

What do you call the child who is suicidal but then one other person enters there life and it's because of that persons friendship that they are able to put down what ever weapon they are about to self harm with?!

...A MIRACLE.

What about the children in other countries who are dying because of the water and then a ministry comes in and builds a well... its A MIRACLE!

They arent just things that happen, small things that just "kinda cool" not to the people involved no those are miracles.

Have you ever prayed for healing over something or someone and had that come true it was...wait for it... A MIRACLE!

God still makes miracles happen EVERY SINGLE DAY!

Just a couple of days ago I was completely sad and depressed. I didn't want to do anything or go anywhere. But I felt a tugging to go to a Fireflight concert. That evening was amazing. I met some wonderful people. Another thing that happened was that we stopped at the Christian bookstore close to the venue. I'd never been to this store before but it's the same Christian bookstore chain that my best friend in AZ works at! I've missed her a lot lately with all that I've gone through and being able to go in there was proof to me that she was present with me that day. Then in the store A few things happened and I felt God's presence as well as that of my father who died a little over 10 years ago. If you've never lost anyone close to you then you may not understand what I was talking about but it's basically this. I was feeling alone then suddenly I knew God was looking out for me because the people that I've been closest to who are far from me...didn't feel so far anymore. The transformation that took place in that moment was... A MIRACLE!

God still does miracles but is up to us to have open eyes and open minds for these moments!

Painting/butterfly/wine bottle/teacup crafts

As you saw in my last post I do enjoy to sew. Once I finish the quilt I'm working on I'll post pictures of it too. Sadly right now I'm still waiting to get some of my material.

I enjoy different levels of crafts and part of my job in the recent months has been to spend a LOT of time with some amazing people in my community. These people are artisans. They are some of the most wonderful people I've ever met and they really help my creative juices flowing!

One of the crafts I've done with them has been this watercolor that I worked on with the help of Suzanne- one of our Artists. She's so very talented and she was teaching water-coloring at our most recent Artisan showcase. So I sat down and did one with her! Here it is:

I've also taken up painting some beautiful pieces of wood tat I've had in my room for years:

Another Craft that I started was because when I go antiquing I often see beautiful teacups that I'd like to buy but perhaps they are cracked or blemished in some way, and then at home one of my absolute favorite teacups broke...so I tooke these teacups, melted some wonderful smelling candles and poured the candle wax into the teacups they turned out beautiful and smell so good. This is an excellent idea for anyone who likes to have a centerpiece on their table. So here they are:

There is one other "beverage container" craft that I started doing. My mother and aunt have recently discovered "Cooper Vineyard" on a trip they've been on. Cooper is a name that is in our family so I thought "why not keep these bottles" well I tried endlessly to think of a craft to do and researched online to find some ideas. Well I finally found a great idea to turn these bottles into lamp lights!! So I worked diligently to make sure the bottles were clean and get the lights inside of them. Here is the result:

Next: Anyone that knows me knows one major thing about me. I LOVE butterflies! They are beautiful and they speak SO MUCH about life. While looking for a new craft idea one day I decided quickly that it would involve butterflies. I used a Martha Stewart hole punch, a canvas and acrylic paints as well as canvas friendly glue! It was a fun craft and I enjoy making these!

And finally- Another butterfly craft that is kid friendly! I enjoyed making this and these butterfly crafts are simple and great for kids to make:

Alright thats all for this blog entry. Theres a couple more craft posts I have planned out. One is about the iron-ons I've done and then the other isnt really craft related but some food/desserts that I enjoy making.

Once my quilt is done I'll be posting it as well! I've really enjoyed blogging about all these crafts and I hope that they've given you some great ideas!! :)

Jewelry/Pillow Crafts I've done

Hey everyone so heres my post that will hold pictures of some of the crafts I've done through the past year. I've done a lot of jewelry so instead of posting all that here:https://www.facebook.com/groups/159758004046234/

I enjoy making pillows here are a few I've done.

This first one is out of a book cover:

Crafts that I've made for my friends kids:

I've even made some pillows out of my dads old handkerchiefs Something that I could have to remember him by but that wasn't just sitting around gathering dust:

I've also done some pillow mending. Heres the one that was the most difficult and I've got pictures in the steps I've done.

The next craft will probably be of my butterfly and tea crafts! I hope you enjoy these! Thanks for tuning in. Who knows some of my crafts may be available on etsy soon! Tell me what you think about that!

On My Mind

I sat here tonight thinking of what to blog...I'm still working on getting my Craft post together but right now I've just got a LOT on my mind.

I want to live my life as an example of being Christ like. I just do my best to be me, not just me, but the me that God wants me to be!

Everyday I struggle to keep my head held high and to make sure I'm am always smiling. Because I WANT to smile. I do not like feeling angry so if I can I refuse to let anger in my life. It's a tough road but with God it is possible.

Lately though I've reflected on my life, wondering if I'm doing the right things, if I'm living my life right. I want Christ to be visible so that others can see God's path is a great path to be on.

But for some reason we've got stumbling blocks that get put in our life, an annoying co-worker, family that enjoy causing trouble, and friends that no matter how much they fight it they remain jealous of you, no matter what the cause of this jealousy. There are quite a few things that come in our lives as stumbling blocks but instead of getting upset about it we should just keep walking on, smile and live. Be GRACIOUS.

Today was the 100 anniversary of Titanic sinking. Getting on that ship how many of those people thought "well I'm gonna die here I might as well just do nothing about it" Some bravely died, but some also fought to live! It's things like Titanic that make you think of how short life can be. We should be the brave ones, the gracious ones, be COURAGEOUS, be examples of Christ.

Sometimes I forget how precious life can be but then I realize the beautiful and amazing things I've been given in life and that gives me reason to fight and keep those beautiful things standing strong.

These are just some of the scattered thoughts God laid on my heart. Heres a song that I just love to go right on with it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbG4vmibLo8

and another

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUFDFePer_c

Love you all! Keep your heads up, think good thoughts and MAKE YOUR OWN SUNSHINE!

Crafts

Over the last year I've become quite the crafty little booger. Since I have been slacking on this blog yet again I decided to start updating it and turn this into a Craft blog. Since God does still do miracles I'm leaving my theme up.

The jobs going well and life is good. Many things are happening for me right now and I can't wait to share my life with you through the crafts that I post! :)