Old Year, New Year

As 2011 comes to an end I've been thinking back on what God has taught me and brought me through this year.
In many ways, this past year has been very hard, but God has been faithful to strengthen and encourage me.
There have been times of joy and there have been times of struggle, but I am blessed to see how God has grown me through those circumstances.

Looking back, I feel like this year God especially worked on teaching me to put my trust fully in Him. I tend to be a person who likes a fairly structured plan, so that has been a challenging lesson for me to learn - but a necessary one.

The other main thing that God reminded/taught me this year, is learning to put my joy and delight in Him. There is nothing that can fill the spot in my heart that was meant to be filled by a relationship with Christ; no friend, no family member, no fantasy I might have - only Christ.
I have had to be continually reminded that true joy only comes from God.

Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass.    Ps. 37:4&5


I am excited about how God has been leading me into new areas, and I know He has great things planned for me in 2012!

See you all next year!
Marie

Crafting Time!

Well...I am back home again. I wish my older sister and I didn't live a whole day's travel apart, so that we could work on craft projects together more often. I miss my big sis and her kids so much!

Here are some the projects I have recently completed; it had been too long since I had crafted much.

With the help from my expert quilting sister at Teals Treasures I completed my first quilt!  I am happy with how it turned out, and have some fun memories of making it together with my older sis. :)

   Detail of the actual quilting. I love the music score fabric, you can see a little of it in this picture. 

Hair accessories!! My sisters and I like to use lots of different hair accessories, so I found a tutorial for these little flowers and tried making a couple. I am fairly pleased with how they turned out, although if I make them again, I think I will make the type on the lower right a little smaller.

God Bless!

I'm Alive

I promise I haven't fallen off the face of the world, I've just been occupied with a lot of things recently.

I have been visiting my sister, and of course we had to work on some kind of project(s)! It has been wonderful  to spend time crafting together! :)
I have a few different projects that I've been working on; I will share pictures of them soon!

Day of Thankfulness: Week 4

This is a little late, but better late than never, right?


This week I am thankful for Christmas music! There is nothing more cheery that helps drive away the blues on those dreary days, then a good Christmas song! :)


Here are some of my favorites this year:
How Many Kings

Wizards in Winter

Christmas Canon

And pretty much all the songs in Micheal Buble's new Christmas album!
But it looks like they have killed most of the videos for it on Youtube. :(

May you all have a blessed weekend!

Day of Thankfulness: Week 3

This week I am thankful for friends. For a long time I prayed (and yes, probably did a little complaining) for friends that would be a blessing and an encouragement to me. I have recently realized that although God did not answer my prayer how I thought He would, He truly has blessed me with wonderful friends - better than I could ever ask for!

I love you all!
Marie

Stepping Out

I'm really excited about how God has been leading me recently, so I wanted to share it with you all! God has been working in me and leading me, which has brought about a change in my plans - surprise right? Through different circumstances, I've been feeling that God has been leading me to get involved in the ministry of Biblical Counseling - specifically ministering to girls and young women.

For awhile I've thought about volunteering at my local crisis pregnancy center. And because God has been leading me to get involved in counseling, I figured that would be somewhere I would be able to get some more experience. So, several weeks ago I submitted  a volunteer application; with the prayer that if volunteering there was the Lord's will, that He would open the door for me. Several weeks went by without hearing anything - until two days ago.

Basically, I was told, that once my references get their paperwork in, I will have an interview scheduled. If the interview goes well, then I can begin training in January.

While I have met with some challenges, it has been a huge blessing that I have received much encouragement as I follow God's leading. I am excited about how God has been leading me, but I also feel like He is stretching me. While they may be baby-steps, I feel like I am beginning to step out of my "comfort zone" and follow Christ.

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Please keep me in your prayers as I continue to follow Christ's leading!

Blessings!
Marie

Day of Thankfulness: Week 2

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This week I'm thankful that God has given me the ability to study and learn, and I'm also thankful for random breaks! :) I'm not really sure why, but for some reason this past week I had a whole week long break. But hey! I'm not going to complain about getting a break! I was able to spend time with my sisters, and sister-in-law who was visiting, without having to worry about assignments needing to be done.

Day of Thankfulness: Week 1

I have been so blessed and most assuredly have many things to be thankful for! While I know that this is definitely not the only time of year we should be thankful: this month I'm going to try and post something I'm especially thankful for, at least once a week.

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This week, I'm thankful that God gave us seasons, and that there is something special about each one! 

The peak of this fall is past, but there's no better way to end your summer then with the vibrant colors of a Midwestern fall! There is a big maple tree outside my window, so each morning I get to wake up to it's fall beauty. 

                        

                  

                       "Give thanks, with a grateful heart.Give thanks to the Holy one."

Message for Christians

I found the message of this video to be very challenging and convicting. I was convicted to be thinking/acting more seriously about some of the things I say, watch, do, etc. Please watch and allow God to move and work in your life.  

Road-Trip Part 2

I promised to post more pictures from our trip, so here they finally are.

Almost every day there was a rain shower in Yellowstone. It got dreary sometimes, but it produced a pretty rainbow! :)

Saw lots of these guys in Yellowstone! This is one of my favorite pictures my sister got of them.

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. So magnificent!  

Sisters! :)

Old Faithful Geyser Basin. 

The Grand Canyon!

 It was so amazing to stand there and see the beauty and greatness of God's creation!

We spent a day and hiked down the Canyon on the north rim. They don't suggest hiking all the way to the Colorado river and back in one day, so we didn't make it all the way to the bottom, but we did a good 

4-hour hike (which was suppose to take 6hrs).

One other thing that was really awesome on the trip was the stars! It's amazing how many more stars you can see, and how bright they were! It was fun taking the start chart out and finding the different constellations.  Seeing the beauty of the stars always makes me want to breakout in a song of worship to our Great Creator! "The Heavens declare the glory of God".

Road Trip!

The last two and a half weeks I spent on a road trip vacation with my family (that's why this blog has been neglected). I will share a picture journey of our trip.

Trailing our camper, we headed first for Mount Rushmore, going as far northern Iowa the first day.

The first night we camped by a pretty lake in Lewis and Clark State Park, Northern Iowa. We awoke early, picked up camp and continued on to the Black Hills, South Dakota.

We saw a lot of this on the way!

Beautiful night sky in the Black Hills.

Mount Rushmore! 

We went to Mount Rushmore in the morning, then in the evening they had a special program, so we went back that same night. And I think we were all glad we did! The program was great, but at the end they had all of the service men and women go to the stage so we could all honor them, and there were four WWII veterans. That was pretty neat in its self, but comes to find out, one one the veterans is from Dayton, Ohio and not only that, he has bought berries from us at the farmer's market we go too!


From the Black Hills we hit the road for Yellowstone!

Of course everyone that visits Yellowstone has to stop and see Old Faithful. 

We had the special opportunity to see Giantess erupting, which only erupts 2-6 times a year! Giantess is twice the size of Old Faithful.

Since this post is getting long, I will do a part 2 and share some more of the pictures from the amazing places we got to visit.

Most of the pictures were taken by my awesome photographer sister Hannah. Check out her blog HannahRose Photography .

Cheers!

Trusting- Even When it's Hard

Sometimes you may think you have everything lined up for what you want to do for college, what classes you will take, and what kind of job you hope to have. Then sometimes God likes to come in a change our plans up!  

The past few weeks have been a time of stretching me, and teaching me to trust God more. I was planning to take a couple music classes online this fall, and was excited about starting them. Things didn't go as smoothly as I would have hoped though, facing just one complication after another. I finally was able to get into the classes, but not until after they had started.  

Seeing that I was having a lot of challenges getting into my classes, my parent's reminded me that sometimes God brings roadblocks along for a reason. So, last night I sat down and discussed with them whether they thought it would be best for me to stay in the classes or just drop them. After discussing many aspects of my college education, I headed for bed, pretty much planning to drop both the classes, but still not quite sure. As I was getting ready for bed, God brought to my mind what I had read in my Bible reading from Amos chapter 3 that very morning. In summary, God was trying to get the attention of His people, but they didn't seem to be listening. For awhile I was just in awe, seeing how God was speaking to me! I felt like He was just giving me a conformation, that at least for this semester, I should not take those classes. I don't really know for sure why, and may never know, but I do know that He has a reason!  

One other little part to the story; in this morning's Bible reading (Amos,4) I noticed that for times it reminds us  to seek the Lord, and three of them add on the thought, "That you may live". God is good! He knows just how to give us the food we need at just the right times! I don't know where all God will lead me or how much this decision will change things up for me, but I know one thing! I'll be seeking the Lord! 

Blessings-Laura Story

This song has recently been an encouragement and reminder to me, that God is working all things for my good, even though many times I don't understand how or why. He is allowing me to go through some struggles for a reason, and I want to allow Him to teach me what I need to learn through them.

I pray that you will also be blessed by this song.

Give Away

Check out this awesome give away at Flame in the Darkness!

http://flameinthedarkness.com/elegance-for-you-giveaway/#comment-4362

Delighting in Christ

I recently finished reading, "When God Writes your Love Story", by Eric and Lisle Ludy. I found it to be both very encouraging and challenging. If you haven't read it yet, I would highly recommend it! It's a wonderful book for both guys and girls.

I was challenged to "Sing the Sweeter Song", meaning to be seeking and finding Christ as the joy of my life, because no relationship with a man will ever be able to fulfill the deepest desires of my heart (even though at times I might think he could). Sorry if I popped your bubble there. :)

On the wall of my room I hung a little painting I made with the verse written on it, "Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart." Ps. 37:4

There are times when I strongly desire to be treasured by a man, so I hung that verse there to remind me that my delight should be in Christ, not in any man, or fantasy I have. My relationship with Christ is more important than a relationship with a man could ever be.

Photo by: My sister Hannah

I recently came across this great quote, and had to share it.

"God, send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. And sever any tie in my heart except the tie that binds my heart to Yours."
— David Livingstone

The other night we had such a gorgeous sunset, I couldn't resist the urge to get out and snap a few pictures! This is one of them, raw and unedited.

Makes me think of that verse, "The heavens declare the glory of God".

Love that Waits

While I can't clam these words as my own, I have made them my commitment to my future husband.

I will hold out for real love

I will hold out for intimacy

I will hold out until my heart is ready

I will hold out for God's timing

I will hold out for purity

I will hold out for just one man

I will hold out so I can have butterflies

I will hold out for all that is sacred in God's eyes

I will hold out because I am a peculiar treasure

I will hold out when others around me are giving in

I will hold out as long as it takes

I will hold out my open heart to You, Lord

I will hold out my empty hand and wait

Prayer Time

I've had a prayer list for my devotion time before, but never kept with them very well. At times it seems that there are so many people and things to pray for, you almost have to have them written down to remember them all, so I'm trying something new.

What I did was, for every day of the week I have note card, then on each note card I wrote things to pray for especially on that day. For example: today I am praying especially for our country, our leaders, my brother-in-law who is deployed, and others serving in the military.As there are answers to prayer I can easily write them on my cards, and make new prayer cards.

I just started trying this, so we'll see how it goes!

Blogging

I've been thinking about starting a blog for awhile, and now I've finally done it!

The purpose of this blog:

I always find it an encouragement to hear how God is working in other peoples lives. My hope is that this will be a place where I can share how God is leading and teaching me, and I desire that somehow God can use that to bless others.

I'm new to blogging, so if you have any suggestions or ideas, I would love to hear them!

Thank you for checking out my blog!