This week, I am going to work harder on spending more time while I am about my daily life, to spend time worshiping my LORD and savior by singing to him, praying to him, and keeping my mind on godly things.
What about you? What helps you to keep God close to you though your normal days?
One of the biggest reasons I got into writing was that, at eleven years of age, I was already having a hard time finding good books. At that age I didn’t enjoy romances of fantasy and that left very few books to began with, but then when you start looking for books that are godly you only have a very few. And so, I decided the best way to have books that were God honoring was to write them and that is what I have worked to achieve.
We, as the writers, must be in control of the pen with which we write. For too long the majority Christian writers have played this game in their books to make them exiting; they see how close they can get there characters to doing wrong things without actually doing it or forced to choose between the lesser of two sins. This is not God honoring 99% of the time and it gets people to think about evil not what is right and good.
Now, with all that said, I do understand that sometimes characters need to have problems and obstacles’ to overcome. Sometimes our characters need to have some issues that they have to overcome but we can’t let those be so dark and evil that that is all the reader thinks about when they think about our books. We need a generation of writers that produce books, blogs and magazines based on the highest standards and the verse in Philippians that says;
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. Philippians 4:8
Let us give the Christian community for good and wholesome books that build up the mind, not corrupt it. Let us, the young, take up their craft of writing that has passed on to us and make it better than it has ever been and let’s start with today.
Hello everyone! Glad that you could be here today and I hope that if you are new here, we will come back again. Today I would like to talk about one of my favorite pass times, reading.
I am sure that there are a lot of you out there that love to read and I am sure that there are a lot of you who, like me, are always looking for something new and interesting to read. I have a hard time finding fiction that I like because I am very picky about what I read. I don’t like books that are dark, I have high standards for what guy-girl relationships are supposed to look like, I am not a big fan of fantasy, and last and most importantly, it has to be God honoring.
This leaves me with very few books that I like to read in the fiction realm so I have developed a love for non-fiction, I especially enjoy historical stuff. Here are some of my favorite books, some of them fiction, and some of them non-fiction. If you know of some really good books, let me know about them by leaving a comment.
The Kingdom series by Chuck Black.
America’s Hidden History by Kenneth Davis
The Story of Liberty by Charles Coffin
Great lives from God’s Word series by Charles Swindoll
Sarah’s Journey series by Wanda Luttrell.
I am sure that there are a lot of you out there that love to read and I am sure that there are a lot of you who, like me, are always looking for something new and interesting to read. I have a hard time finding fiction that I like because I am very picky about what I read. I don’t like books that are dark, I have high standards for what guy-girl relationships are supposed to look like, I am not a big fan of fantasy, and last and most importantly, it has to be God honoring.
This leaves me with very few books that I like to read in the fiction realm so I have developed a love for non-fiction, I especially enjoy historical stuff. Here are some of my favorite books, some of them fiction, and some of them non-fiction. If you know of some really good books, let me know about them by leaving a comment.
The Kingdom series by Chuck Black.
America’s Hidden History by Kenneth Davis
The Story of Liberty by Charles Coffin
Great lives from God’s Word series by Charles Swindoll
Sarah’s Journey series by Wanda Luttrell.
One of the problems with this culture in general is it has not made time family. They are too wrapped up in themselves and their lives to care about their family stories and their special heritage. I am as guilty as many young people of not really caring about my past. It’s in the past and we can’t change it so why is it so important?
There are two big reasons why, one; we can learn a lot about who we are from our family and our heritage. It is one thing to say you are American, African American, Indian American or whatever group you happen to be a part of, but what does that really mean? What is you heritage and background? What events and circumstances have brought you and your family to the point they are today?
The second reason is one you have probably heard before but which is worth repeating; history often repeats it’s self. The lessons that our ancestors and the generations before us, have learned the same lessons that we are learning over today, many of which, we could have learned the easy way if we had just studied a little history.
So let’s all take a little time today to learn about our heritage and family stories. Oh, and thank you Grandmother, for helping me to find out about my heritage.
As August draws to a close and September is just around the corner, I am again struck at how fast the time fly’s. It seems like only yesterday that the year 2008 started and yet here we are looking at the last few months of the year. Whenever I find myself thinking about how the fast time goes, I start thinking about how I spend my time.
Think about it, every day we spend some of our time doing useless things like watching movies, playing on the computer or even just letting ourselves be board. Those thi9ngs have there place (all expect the being board one) but what would happen if we just took a third of the time that we spent doing those things and turned them toward doing things like spending time with family, reading a non-fiction book, making something, or spending time with God? I think that we would be a lot happier and have a more fulfilling life.
So let’s try that today, let’s take the time we were going to spend watching that movie and use in to do something else more fulfilling.
You will probably never see my first book in the book stores because it wasn’t that good, in fact, my first four books aren’t much to look at. My first ‘real’ book was I finished in December of last year and I am almost done with the sequel now. There is an interesting story here though that I would like to share with you. You see, I had read many introductions to book where the author said something along the lines of ‘this book wrote it’s self’ and I would laugh at that. You see, I always had complete control over my stories, they went exactly the way I planned them and they took work. I decided that books don’t write themselves, the author was just trying to sound dramatic.
As we young people who think we so much usily find out, I was wrong. I started writing my latest book which is a Si-Fi type book about a nineteen year old girl who over comes all odds to try to bring about change in a corrupt government. I felt as if I were taking the journey with Maria and had as much knowledge of the outcome of events as she did. It really did feel like the book wrote itself in the since that the finished product was different (In a good way) then I had originally planed.
I just wanted to tell those of you who are new to this blog that I don’t post on Sundays because my family has chosen not to turn on T.V. or computers on that day. I hope to see you all on Monday!
“They said on the T.V. that John McCain is might pick Sarah as his vice president.”
Still half asleep I smiled and said, “I don’t think McCain would pick me.” I thought that my sister was just telling a joke.
“Not you, the governor from Alaska!” I was out of bed in a minute. After several months of hearing short lists of people I didn’t like at all, I was ecstatic to learn that McCain had picked such a conservative V.P.
Have a great day everyone!
Happy Birthday Rose!
Dare to be different
Dare to take the path that few choose
Dare to put people before your plans for the day
Dare to put purity before being accepted
Dare to put holiness before coolness
Dare to put His way before your way
Dare to put His reputation before you rights as a citizen
Dare to put kindness before popularity
Dare to but modesty before being in style
Dare not to take offence when you are being teased
Dare to stand up for others even when it might cost you
Dare to choose loneliness over bad friends
Dare to work when others play
Dare to help clean up when others might laugh at you for doing it
Dare to be polite even when someone is being rude to you
Dare to be a woman belonging to God even when others only belong to ‘themselves’
Dare to be Different
By Sarah Holman. Originally publishing in Ladies in Waiting newsletter.
We all need to remember as we head back to school, college, or even just going about our daily routine, that God has placed other people in our life and we need to give them some of our time. That means we need to make sure that our siblings know that we care by playing a game with and spending time talking to them. We need to show that new girl in church, school, or co-op that she isn’t forgotten and that we are willing to take the time to talk to her. We need to show our God that we will spend a few minutes of our day with Him, even when we feel pressed for time.
Take so time today for those who are the most important to you.
Where does inspiration come from? For me it most often comes in the form of a movie. That seems funny to think that inspiration for books would come from movies but three out of my five books have been born out of watching movies. It is often something small such as a line in the dialog that sets me thinking, one shot that awes me, or the very feel of the movie as a whole that I liked and want recreate in a book. After I get the initial idea I fall back on my extensive reading to supply me with ways to make the story come alive and be meaningful to the reader.
I must confess that I have a secret weapon when it comes to keeping a fire and a vision while writing a book, I talk to myself. It may have been a bad habit to get into but it has helped me work out so much of the book and to keep it in my mind as real characters and places. I will spend a few hours every week, walking around our five acres helping g my characters come alive by acting them out and figuring out what they will do next. The only other thing that I do to help keep my fire is something most peole don’t want to hear; keep writing even when you don’t feel like it. Sometimes, if you just start writing you will soon find yourself interested in your writing again.
Now, it is your turn. I want to know what inspires you to write and keep writing. I Would also love to know what makes a really great book for you. What kind of characters, places or genres make a great book for you?
Have a great day everyone.
Do you know of any websites that I ought to have a link to? Let me know about them by leaving a comment.
With that said, I also should tell you that I do have a clear idea of who I think should win in November and I will not pertend that I am not a Republican and spend a lot of time with my local Republican party. If you are a Democrat, again let me say that I hope this post will not scare you away because I see that the Democrat and the Republicans have issues and things to offer.
Now, putting all political affiliations aside, I ask that you would register to vote if you are old enough. For too long, this countries young people have not realized what a privilege we have when we are given the right to vote. There are men and woman in Iraq, Afghanistan, and many remote parts of the earth, fighting and dying so that we can have the right to debate issues, stage protest, hold rallies and meetings and vote on Election Day without fear. Let us not waste that gift that they have given us that they, like the generations before them, paid with their very blood and lives
Vote, and take the time whenever you are able to thank the man and woman who wear and have worn our nations uniform.
I have the most wonderful parents in the whole world, who have encouraged me in all my undertakings such as this blog. I have four sisters that I have so much fun with every day though my sister Rose and I share a special bond. My parents did manage to add one brother to the bunch and he is our brave guy, killing all the spiders and other pests that came are way.
When we are out shopping people are always commenting that we seem to like each other and that we treat other so well in public. I always want to say that that is because we really do like each other and we really do get along in real life. We have so much fun together and we depend on each other. I thank God that he put me into this wonderful family
We were all sitting around the living room after watching one of our favorite movies, Robin Hood, discussing the fact that God said not to steal and therefore, no matter how bad the situation is, we should never steal. Then, one of us came up with a great idea; what if we rewrote the story of Robin Hood and in are book we would make it so he didn't steal. Mom, who was listening near by, suggested that if we were going to take the time and effort to write a book, we should write our own story. That is what set me off on my writing adventure.
Over the course of the next three years, I wrote a book set in the medieval times in the fictional country of Shieham. I learned so much about writing and I loved creating the story and molding the characters. I learned that sometimes, even when you didn't feel like it, I had to keep writing in order to get the book done. But I also discovered my passion for writing.
What about you? How did you began writing or bloging?
The more we grow up the smaller we dream. When the biggest dream in our life is to get a raise or go see a concert, I say that we are dreaming far to small. We serve an all powerful God, Our God is God over the impossible and yet all we dream for are small things.
Don't get me wrong. I understand that just because God can fulfill our dreams doesn't mean he will. I also understand that sometimes we have to set aside our dreams and live our lives, but sometimes, what we really need, is to sit and dream big dreams and see what God will do with them
My big dream is that one day, I will be a published author. I have written five books already, though none of them are published, and many articles. I can hardly wait to see what God will do with this gift of writing he gave me. What are your big dreams?
There is something wonderful about see your country's athlete on that gold stand winning another metal for your country, but that metal will one day collect dust and the athlete will be forgotten. We, as Christan however, are running the race of faith for a everlasting crown and all who believe will get that crown. Think about that. In the Olympics only one person gets the gold, but in the race of faith every one of us will get our crown.
All of this leads to a question; What are you and I doing to prepare ourselves for the rough part of the race? When we start loosing strength, do we know how to find more? Are we preparing ourselves that even when we receive an injury or come to what seems to be an overwhelming obstacles we, with God's help, can over come it? Are we spending some time every training our mind and heart to be more Christ like by praying and reading the Bible? Are we preparing ourselves so that we can the race well to the very end so that when we cross that finish line we can say with Paul; I have fought a good fight, I have finished the race and I have kept the faith.
