Faithful Fridays ~ Good Friday

Hi, everyone!  :)  I'm sorry I'm late today.  Our family's been sick with the flu for the past week and we're still not over it!  We'd appreciate your prayers because we're feeling pretty crummy.  :(  Today's post is going to be a bit short.

Faithful Fridays is a weekly linky party hosted on my blog.  I made it so that Christians could have one special day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their Christian walk on their blog.  If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post!  :)

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Today is an especially special Friday, because it's Good Friday.  This is the day we recognize as the day Jesus drank the cup He had been given and laid down His life for our sins.

It does seem a bit strange at first that we would call the day Jesus was brutally killed "Good Friday," but really, it was a good day for us because since that day we have no longer had to worry about our mistakes or struggles.  Jesus already paid that price, and God is no longer angry with us over anything we have done.  He looks at us through eyes of grace and love.  

I don't want to lose that feeling of wonder and overwhelming gratitude at the enormous price Jesus paid for us.  I don't want to forget it!

When you think about the terrible pain that Jesus went through--the dread of waiting and knowing what was to come, the betrayal, the scorn, the shame, the beating, the nails, and then just hanging there, laboring to breathe.....remember that it was all for you.

Let's keep the real meaning of Easter on our minds!  :)

God bless you and have a great day!

Joy :)

Pinned It, Made It! Monday ~ Easy-Peasy Polka Dot Nails

Good morning, everyone!  :)  It's been a long time since I've participated in Pinned It, Made It! Monday, a linky party hosted by my mama over at her blog, Country Girl at Home.  I'm glad to be participating again!  :)  Pinned It, Made It! Monday encourages bloggers to share what they've been pinning and making via Pinterest!  :)


In the past year or so, I've started doing more with my nails.  And as I've tried to tackle some of the more difficult patterns and such, I've had a hard time figuring out how to easily make polka dots!  I haven't been able to find a dotting tool, toothpicks don't work very well, and while the point of a pen dipped in nail polish works somewhat, it still just didn't work that well for me.   And then the other day I was scrolling through Pinterest and I saw this picture!

Source

Genius, right?  Why didn't I ever think of that?  The little round part at the end of a bobbi pin is perfect for making polka dots!

So I sat down and tried it out.....

.....and it worked really well!  I love red, so I did a red-and-white color combo.

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.  :)  It's hard for me to paint the polka dots on the right hand since I am right-handed, though.  :)

That's all for today, folks!  :)  
God bless you and have a great day, Joy :)

Faithful Fridays ~ Prayer

Hi, everyone!  :)  It's time for Faithful Fridays!  I'm a little late today....sorry about that.  We've all been a bit sick around here in the past few days, so we've been sleeping in.  :)  We'd appreciate your prayers for us all to feel better!  :)

Faithful Fridays is a weekly "meme" hosted on my blog.  I made it so that Christians could have one day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their Christian walk on their blog.  If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post!  :)

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Have you ever had a hard time praying?

Or, maybe, when you prayed, did you just not feel....connected with God?

Maybe you have, maybe you haven't, but I know I have felt both.  When you think about it, it's really quite stupid.  Like, seriously, He has given us so much, taken care to be involved in the most intricate details of our lives, sent His only Son to die for us, and we...can't...seem...to talk to Him.  Say what?

But seriously, why can it be hard sometimes?  

I think part of it is the combination of A and B.

A) We think a person 

can only pray when they're 

standing still and being quiet 

and that's the only thing they're thinking about

and 

B) We get terribly distracted

when we try to do it that way

because we're so used to being 

surrounded by noise, action, and rush, rush, rush!

The answer to this is that first of all, you don't have to be on your knees, alone, quiet, only concentrating on God when you pray, although that kind of prayer is great.  

The truth is, even when we cut out some of the busyness in our lives, we're still going to be on the go at times.  It's unavoidable.  See, even when I'm at home, I have chores, school, more chores, and just day-to-day life at home that does involve stuff I have to do!  Should that keep me from praying?  Should it make me have to find a spare five minutes to fall on the ground at night and rattle off a prayer?

No.  

There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God.

-Brother Lawrence

God is everywhere, so pray anywhere.  Like it says above, life can be so, so sweet and much happier when we stay connected to God through short, frank, honest prayers throughout the day.  They don't have to be out loud.  They most certainly don't have to be elaborate.  Here's an example of what I mean.

Driving down the road.  Kids are screaming.  Your mind is frazzled.

God, please help me.  Keep us safe.  Give me patience 'cause you know I need it.  Love you.  Amen.

Here's one that really works for me.  Folding clothes.  Thinking hard.  Hands moving, mind running.

God, I pray about this _________ and this _________ and this ________ that I'm worrying about.  

Do you see what I mean?  We can grow in the Lord and our lives can flourish in Him when we take the time to just murmur a prayer to Him in thought, to stay connected to Him.

Now, when we pray, sometimes we need to center in on this difficulty that's driving us crazy.  Lord, please protect us right now. Lord, please give me patience right now.  Lord, please help me to stop worrying.

And sometimes, we need to pause and take a step back and remember that praying isn't about rattling off a list of "I want this, please give me that, please keep me from this," etc. etc.  Because while that is tempting, and while God does tell us to ask it and it will be given to us, that is not what prayer is about.

Prayer is about talking to God the way you would a big, protective, heavenly Father, because that's exactly what He is.  He's perfect.  He knows everything about you, every thought, every move, everything before it happens.  He knows your past and your future.  He understands you even more than you do!  He made you!  Instead of letting that intimidate you, let it comfort you, because God looks at you through eyes of grace and love.  

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.  But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.  And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

 “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

 

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

    on earth as it is in heaven. 

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

    as we also have forgiven our debtors. 

And lead us not into temptation,

    but deliver us from the evil one.’

 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

-Matthew 6:1-15 

Talk to God as you would a friend.  Be honest.  Be frank.  Talk in your own words, use your own manner of speaking.  Be respectful and reverent but be honest.  I like to imagine myself just curling up in the Lord's arms and spilling out everything to Him.  How I feel, what I'm thinking, as well as what I'm thankful for and what I need or want.  

Just take it all to Him and dump it at his feet.  

In children's church, we have this little guide to prayer in the from of an acronym.  

Praise Him 

                       Request your needs and wants

                           Admit your sins and shortcomings

                                                                    Yield your worries, thoughts, struggles, and whatever you're anxious about.

Prayer can be so much more when it's not about us and what we want and a list of stuff, but rather about coming to God, thanking Him, being in awe of his mightiness and the fact that you can come before Him anyway, and finally, giving Him all your fears and worries and just everything.  

We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties.

-Oswald Chambers

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So, that's what I have to say today.  I'm sorry if it was kind of all over the place....just my thoughts.  :)  

God bless you and have a great day!  :)

The Camera's Back!

Remember when I said that our main camera lens was broken?

It's back!  :D

Yes, yes, after weeks of waiting for the time when we could order a new lens, it finally came and we finally got the lens in!  :)  

Don't ever take your camera for granted.  :)  Our lens broke down a bit before Christmas, and that was sad for me because I was looking forward to experimenting with Christmas lights and bokeh....but I couldn't.  :)

I'm looking forward to having some photo shoots.  :)  I decided to snap a couple of pictures as a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing the other day. 

Old books are the best.  :)  

God bless you guys and have a great day!  :)

Joy :)

Faithful Fridays ~ We're Arrows.

Hellllooo, my friends!  :)  It's time for Faithful Fridays!  :)  I'm sorry I'm late posting today.

Faithful Fridays is a weekly "meme" hosted on my blog.  I made it so that Christians could have one day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their Christian walk on their blog.  If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post!  :)

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As Christians, we are called to be like arrows, pointing toward Jesus.  Moses, Abraham, Noah, Mary, Joseph, the disciples....all of these people's lives were arrows, pointing to Jesus, pointing to that message of hope and love and forgiveness.  They were ordinary people, even if that's hard to believe.  I mean, I know we hear about them all our lives as heroes and great people and they were, but they were small and ordinary and weak just like us.

And we can make a difference like they did, point to Jesus like they did.  Just let God use you.  Submit to His will.  Say, "Lord, I'm open to whatever you have for me."  Be ready for the adventures and the ups and downs God has for you in this life, because it's going to be unforgettable if you let Him lead you!  

Have you ever noticed that an arrow splits and goes back before it shoots forward, so to speak?

I think sometimes our life as a Christian is like that.  

For my reading/writing friends out there--you know how often, in a story, there's a low point the hero hits right before he fights his last battle?  It's the point where he feels as if everything is lost and he's done....and then, by whatever means, he's shot forward into the heroic deed he was created to perform!

As Christians, followers of Jesus, arrows pointing to Him, we may start out doing okay....you know, going straight forward, no big ups or downs in our life.  And then we hit this low point where we are so down in the dumps, despairing, afraid, lonely, weak.  We feel split in the middle, and like we've taken ten steps back to where we used to be.  We cry out to God.

And He picks us up, dusts us off, takes our hand, and leads us down the road He has for us, lifting us up higher and in more faith than ever before.  And that low point is so worth it, because that's how God shapes us into the arrow that points to Jesus.  

So please remember, if you're going through a hard time, dealing with weaknesses, failures, disappointments, hurt, sadness, fear....God can use all of this to build your faith in Him, if you'll let Him.  He loves you and never lets go of your hand!

.....Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.  But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

-2 Corinthians 12:7-10

God bless you and have a great day!  :)

Joy :)

Writing Musings.

So, last night I sat down and opened up my word document and the story that I've been faithfully, happily working on was in coded gibberish....and I can't get it back!  I'm pretty upset about that.  But, I'm praying about it, and meanwhile, I decided to work on some character enhancing and also try to re-write what I lost.

I started scrolling through a blog, looking for tools to use, and then it struck me.....I don't have a villain!  At all!  I was planning it all out and getting really excited, and I don't have a villain.  How on earth did I miss that?  Huge plot hole right there.  I'm workin' on it.  :)

So, the title of my story/novel/book (for now, anyway) is "The Scarlet Princesses."  I really can't tell you much about it now, but....I'm very excited about it.  :)  I've been thinking on this idea for a pretty long time now, and I had written the first chapter and part of the second, and then I deleted all of it and decided to start again.  :)

It took me a while to figure out what my main character's name would be....it had to be fitting, feisty, have a relatively fitting meaning, and be true to her nationality.  But I finally decided on Flann.  And that's all I can say.  :)

Anyway, just had to let out some writing rambles.

God bless you guys and have a great week!  :)

Joy :)

Faithful Fridays ~ Do Not Forget.

Good morning (or afternoon, or evening, or night), everyone!  :)  Good to see you.  It's time for Faithful Fridays!  :)

Faithful Fridays is a weekly "meme" hosted on my blog.  I made it so that Christians could have one day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their Christian walk on their blog.  If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post!  :)

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Have you ever forgotten something?

I used to be really bad about this.  I would get distracted and make careless mistakes (oh, how familiar those two words are to me!) and forget what I was supposed to be doing.

Hey, I just got distracted while working on this post...by Pinterest.  :P

BUT.  We usually forget small things, right?  Like our keys, phones, chores, something someone said to us, a promise we made, etc.  

What if we forgot the big things?  Like...what if you forgot your kid?

Think bigger than that.

What if we forgot the Holocaust?  How detrimental that could be.  It's been said that those who forget history are destined to repeat it.    

Think bigger.

What if we forgot that Jesus died for us, that He is majestic and perfect and yet He still wants to stoop down to our level and love us.....?  

It would be crazy for us to forget that, right?!  I mean, Jesus saved our lives, among other things!  

And yet, we do forget.  I mean, maybe we don't flat-out forget that Jesus died for us, but we lose the essence of it; we lose the awe and the worship.  We forget how big He is and how worthy of praise and glory.  We forget how majestic and wonderful He is.

The Bible tells many accounts of people forgetting who He is and what He has done.  

via Pinterest

There was Abraham.  God called this man from his average, ordinary life.  He wasn't special.  He was no man of God.  But God spoke to him, and He called Abraham to follow Him and travel to live in a distant land.  It was a leap of faith, but Abraham and his wife, Sarah, took it, and his nephew Lot (whom Abraham loved dearly, since he had no son himself) and his wife took it, too.

When they moved, it was no small deal.  They took all of their household--their family, their slaves and servants, everyone.  It was a pretty big moving party.  And when they finally settled down on the land God told them to, things started getting tricky again.  People got restless.  Trouble was stirring up.  So Lot decided to move away from the land God had called them to, and away from Abraham and all their household and their little village.  Can you imagine how that made Abraham feel?  He had to feel a bit alone.  Probably really sad.  And maybe he felt let down because Lot hadn't continued to trust in God's word and plan for them.

Fast-forward a little bit, and Abraham finds out that Lot and his wife and others from their family have been captured by enemies and so he and other men go after them, to try to rescue them.  It's really not a "fair" battle--the enemies are so much greater than Abraham's men, but they don't have God on their side.  Abraham frees Lot and his wife.  And then Lot tells Abraham that they are moving to Sodom.

Let me put this into modern terms for you: Steve (Abraham)'s nephew, Jack (Lot) was accused of a really bad crime that he didn't commit, and Steve comes and straightens it all out and miraculously gets him out of trouble, and then Jack tells Steve that he's moving his family to Las Vegas.  

I think, if I were Abraham, that I would feel that Lot was being unfaithful and maybe even ungrateful.  And probably a bit stupid, too.  But Lot moved and Abraham went back to his little village, staying true to God.

via Pinterest

You see, Lot forgot.  Lot forgot what God had done for them, how He had called them.

And then there's Moses and the Israelites.  They're probably the best example of forgetting what God's done for you, ever.  It's almost comical.

God performs all these miracle plagues through Moses to help get them out of slavery in Egypt, and they complain and worry, even though God has told them that He will take care of them.  Then it works, and Pharaoh lets them go, and they come to the Red Sea and find Pharaoh and his soldiers right behind them, trying to drag them back into slavery, and they panic.  Okay, that's understandable.  But then God parts the sea for them!  Can you imagine?  The sea itself rose up in walls, with a pathway between for them to pass through to the other side safely....and then he cuts it back down just in time for it to crash down on the soldiers.  How awesome is our God?!  And after that, throughout the days and weeks and months and years that follow, the Israelites keep forgetting and forgetting and lapsing back into their old ways and completely not trusting.  They even started worshiping a gold statue when Moses went up on the mountain to get the Ten Commandments!  Moses was so angry and frustrated when he came down and saw it, he broke the commandments and had to go up and get a second set!  Can you imagine?

And I think one reason all this stuff kept happening is that the Israelites didn't tell their children what God had done for them.  They should have been telling their children over and over again and openly worshiping God, but I guess they weren't because their children made the same mistakes they did.

Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live.  Teach them to your children and their children after them.

-Deuteronomy 4:9

Now, fast-forward again to the 1950's.  Dr. von Braun, a scientist from Germany who worked on rockets for Hitler during WWII, then moved to the states and started working for their space and rocket research, became a Christian.  Crazy, right?  He started out working for Hitler and then became a Christian scientist working for America.  

What an awesome testimony!  He was kind of the early mastermind of NASA.  He greatly influenced it.  Bible scriptures were read during space missions, God and the Bible were referenced all during NASA's early history.  

And then he died, and  NASA lost all that.  Now, they're pretty heavily turned toward evolution.  Isn't that sad?  One man made a difference for a good bit of time, and then he died and we forgot what he taught us.   

Do you see a pattern?  I guess it's part of our fallen, sinful nature....forgetting.  We forget some of the most important people and things.  We take it for granted and become ungrateful.  

Today, we're also forgetting the distress and deep trouble all our forefathers went to to found a godly, secure, stable, free nation for us called America.  And we just might lose it, if we're not careful.

Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws, and his decrees that I am giving you this day.

-Deuteronomy 8:11

Let's not forget all that God has done for us, friends!  :)

God bless you and have a great day!

Joy :)

What To Do When Your Internet is Out

It's happened to all of us.

You sit down at your laptop, on your way to write a blog post or have a pinning party, and SHABAM.  Your internet connection is zero.

It happened to us on Thursday.

And we suffered through it.  ;)

Let's be honest here--when the internet is out, you get a lot done.  Maybe not a lot of pinning, but a lot of stuff that the internet tends to put off.  

So, the next time your internet goes off, keep this list in mind.

What To Do When Your Internet is Out

• Crochet
• Read more of that enormous book you're trying to finish
• Write!
• Crochet
• Read books to your siblings
• Do your Chinese homework
• Sit down and write a letter to your pen pal
• Crochet again
• Sit down with a baby name book and find all the Irish-sounding names and write them down for your story.  Every. Single. One.
• Crochet
• And thank the Lord once the internet comes back on.  :)

Ya'll have a great day and God bless you!  :)

Joy :)

Faithful Fridays ~ The Comparison Game

Hi everyone!  I'm sorry this post wasn't on before now....we were without internet yesterday, and though we got a lot done elsewhere, I wasn't able to get any "internet stuff" done.  :)

Faithful Fridays is a weekly "meme" hosted on my blog.  I made it so that Christians could have one day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their Christian walk on their blog.  If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post!  :)

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So, today's post is a little different from what I usually tend to write about.

Because I usually write about something that the Lord has taught me or impressed upon me lately, or sometimes a struggle I've had that's been resolved.

But I never want to post about the struggles I haven't resolved, because I figure that if the sort of "reason" I'm writing these posts is to help other Christians....what can sharing my problems do?

But maybe it can help.  Maybe one of you has dealt with the same thing or is dealing with it now, and maybe sharing my thoughts can help.

I am really bad about comparing myself to other people.  I hold myself to a really high standard and if I feel like I'm messing up even the slightest bit, I get really, really upset because I'm desperately afraid of falling off the path the Lord wants me to follow.  It's one of my biggest fears.

I want to be able to do everything.  I look around at other bloggers and want to have five hundred followers, and have a really good blog design, and come up with clever, classy posts.  I see my artistic friends and want to be able to pick up the pencil and draw really well.  I see my friends that have finished several books and feel a bit ashamed of my writing.  I want to be musically talented and play the guitar, piano, and sing.  I want to keep everything balanced and listen to the right kind of music, watch the right movies, and not get caught up in the things of this world.  

My mama and I (we're very close) have agreed that if she ever sees me "falling out of line" and not acting the way I should as a Christian girl, she'll let me know.  Even though I want her to tell me when I'm straying off the path, I still get really upset when she brings it to my attention.  I kind of just expect myself to be close to perfect, and when I fail, I beat myself up over it.

It's annoying and it makes me feel like I'm "stupid" or like I "have problems," but it's me.  :)  

But I think this is a form of ungratefulness.  I'm not being thankful to God.  Many people I know have worse "problems" than I do, whether they be spiritual, emotional, physical, or whatever.  I guess I don't see others' problems, and because of that, from my perspective, my problems are big, whereas to someone else, they're small.

I've heard it said that if we all threw our problems into a pile with everyone else's, we'd grab ours back instantly.   :)

Also, I think this "comparison game" that I (and, I believe, many other girls) tend to play is a "symptom" of not focusing solely on Jesus.  Maybe I'm letting my eyes wander off Him, and I start to sink because of it.  I mean, one of my favorite Bible verses--my sort of "life verse"--is Hebrews 12:1-2, but do I really live by it all the time? 

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

-Hebrews 12:1-2 

I've learned that the only person I need to compare myself to is Jesus, because He's the one I'm following.

I compare myself to everyone--my friends, other bloggers, other writers, people in my family, even to what my mom was like when she was my age.

It can drive me crazy!

But in the midst of it, God speaks to me. 

I opened my devotional, Jesus Calling (by Sarah Young), yesterday to read this:

"Stop judging and evaluating yourself, for this is not your role.  Above all, stop comparing yourself with other people.  This produces feelings of pride or inferiority, sometimes a mixture of both.  I lead each of My children along a path that is uniquely tailor-made for him or her.  Comparing is not only wrong; it is also meaningless.  

Don't look for affirmation in the wrong places: your own evaluations or those of other people.  The only source of real affirmation is My unconditional Love.  Many believers perceive Me as an unpleasable Judge, angrily searching out their faults and failures.  Nothing could be farther from the truth!  I died for your sins so that I might clothe you in My garments of salvation.  This is how I see you: radiant in My robe of righteousness.  When I discipline you, it is never in anger or disgust; it is to prepare you for face-to-Face fellowship with Me throughout all eternity.  Immerse yourself in My loving presence.  Be receptive to My affirmation, which flows continually from the throne of grace."

"My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in."

-Proverbs 3:11-12

It made me feel a little better, and it also kind of just made me look up and go, "Thanks, God.  You knew what I needed."  :)

So, I hope this helped you somehow today.  :)

God bless you and have a great day!

Joy :)