Home

Hello Everyone!

  Here is just something I wrote when I started missing home in Ethiopia. Sometimes it takes a bit of distance to obtain some clarity. You don't always realize how important some things and people are to you until you can't see or talk with them everyday. I was thankful to find this as a bit of a reminder right before Christmas what this season should be about! I hope you all took time to appreciate your home and your family this holiday season! I hope you enjoy!

Home

[09.03.15]

  "Home. Home sweet home. Home is where the heart is. I have heard these quotes my entire life. I have seen them in and on placks hanging in a myriad of houses. Though they may be considered cheesy or cliché, I have found them to be very true!

  While I have enjoyed my time in Ethiopia, there is something extremely sweet about the name Carthage Tennessee. To me, though I may get a bit stir crazy at times, that is home to me. That is where I grew up. That is where my greatest memories were made. That is where my family is. The greatest treasure I can ever hope to have in this world!

  Within the small town of Carthage Tennessee, is a little house, that holds the most important people to me in the whole world. It holds some of the best and worst memories. But through each of these times the people there have grown closer than before. None of us are perfect, but that's a big part of what makes that place home. We have rejoiced together at each success, we have sorrowed together at each loss, we have laughed together, and at each other. So many emotions and memories within those walls! So to me home is not some magical place where everything is perfect and peaceful. Home is where people can be people . Home is a place where you can be yourself. Home is where everyone knows how weird you are, tells you how weird you are, but loves you despite all of your flaws! Through your faults and failures home is a safe haven. Home is not perfect, but perfection isn't what we should strive for, because we will never reach it on our own. Strive to have a relationship with Christ and the closest thing to perfection we can have on this earth will be possible! 

  There is a hope and a joy that comes from being home. It's a good place to recharge. Though I would have loved growing up on the countryside, I would not have changed the home I grew up in for anything! Those creaky floors, those brick walls, those slanted floors, that caramel can imprint on the kitchen ceiling, those rusty old iron rails on the front porch... I could go on and on about the imperfections of the place, but we made memories running and sliding on those slanted floors, running around and climbing those brick walls, sliding down the old stairs on mattresses, laughing as we cleaned up the caramel all over the kitchen, hanging garlands and sitting on the front porch eating lunch on a nice summer's day. I love thinking back to all of the memories I have made in that little humble house! But to be honest the house is just a house. That place would not be worth a dime to me without my family. That is home. Where my family is. Where we can laugh, joke, and poke fun at each other. Where we can be ourselves and know that no matter what we will always be there for one another. That is what home is to me. Home is family. My Family."


    
    I thought it was neat that I already had this written and ready to go and my pastor spoke about the home on Sunday! "Home is a difficult word to define", He stated. Maybe I touched to definition of the word! "Home is not in a place, but in a Person." He said. Oh to be in our eternal home with Christ our Savior! I hope you all have that hope! I'm not sure when that day will be, but can you imagine the glory of that day? Though I long for that home, I am thankful for my temporary home as well! The Lord has been so good to me and I cannot tell you why, except to say what He reminds me of daily! He loves me. He loves me! How could He ever love me? A sinner saved by grace, redundantly returning to that sin He continues to bring me out of! How great Thou art my gracious Father! How can I give Him anything but love? I want to appreciate my Home more. Not only this season, but for the rest of my days!
Another angle we could look at is this: "Home is where the heart is" Yes, I know, it's a bit of a cliché quote, but ask yourself, "Where is my heart?" Your heart can be anywhere or in anything. The heart is a flexible thing in where it can fit into any place you decide to put it. So where is it? It will be revealed in the way you live. Your habits and your conversation will give you away. Is it your job? Your possessions? Your family? Your pets? Or maybe it's something that shouldn't be in your life at all? Maybe it is a habit that is tearing your family apart or numbing you spiritually. Whatever it is, that is personal, but the Lord gave His life so that you might give Him yours! Give him your heart! Saved or lost! If you are lost, I ardently hope you give your heart over to the Lord! If you are saved, well you already have haven't you? But you continually take it back for yourself. I know I am guilty of this from time to time! It is easy to forget to whom you belong when you have a free will, but without free will our relationship with Christ would be mechanical and nothing special. Can you choose Him again? Choose Him daily! If "Home is where the heart is", where is your Home? Is it in Christ? 


I hope you all had a very merry Christmas, and I wish you all a happy new year!    

  Simply,

      Sarah

P.S. Hey guys and gals! I truly appreciate hearing from you guys! Give me some ideas on what to rant about next or even some tips on how I can my blog more enjoyable for you! Thank you for reading!

Encourage/ Update

   

    Wow! 2017 is swiftly approaching! How can this be? Cornerstone's mission's conference this year was tremendous! Though we missed having our regular preacher, Bro. Danny Farley, we heard some much needed messages from Bro. Brent Logan. I am so glad the Lord worked it out for him to come!
    Our giving for the coming year was projected to be almost 715,000 on Wednesday night. The following Sunday night it had raised to about $762,000! Praise be to GOD! Now we must be faithful to give as we promised. I am confident in my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ!
    Though I am disappointed the great conference is over, all good things must come to an end. I am excited to see what the LORD has planned for the new year! A fresh start. Hmm, that sounds nice! This has been a good year all in all, but it has definitely had it's ups and downs! A new year makes me feel as if I can start over. Rewind, take a step back and reflect on the past year in order to do better in the next. Boy, do I have some work to do!
    I am not in the mood to lecture this morning, but to encourage! I know we can all use a bit of encouragement every now and then! I sure do! I encourage you to pass on the encouragement this season! A simple, "I'm praying for you" or "Keep doing right" may make more of an impact than you realize! I am convinced that I have the best group of friends anyone could ask for! I have friends that encourage me in the way they live and with their words. The Lord knows exactly what we need when we need it. The Lord may decide to use you to lift up a brother or sister out of discouragement! Don't squelch that opportunity!
    I don't know why, but within the hustle and bustle of the season I can easily become stressed and discouraged with all the things going on! It is also easy to lose focus and become so busy we forget what we are supposed to be celebrating! A simple word from a friend to tell me they are praying for me, sends my focus spinning back into place. These are the friends I hope to keep throughout my life time! I love you all!
   As of other happenings:
• Some of my best friends just returned from Ethiopia about two weeks ago! It is great having the Fussners back in the states! How I have missed them!
• Christmas, Christmas, Christmas!!! Parties and shopping and lists and decorating and yes it is that time of year again! I do enjoy getting together with family and friends simply to spend time together!
• Wedding showers and preparations! Yes my little sister's wedding date is almost here! January 7th will be here before we know it! Twenty-five days!
• My cousin, Caleb, just got married as well!
That is enough to keep us busy!
Thanksgiving went great! I think everyone enjoyed themselves for which I am thankful! I am looking forward to Christmas now! Just please don't come too quickly, I am not quite ready! ;)
Well, this post is another bunch of my ramblings! Hopefully, once the holiday season is over, I'll be able to sit and write something of substance! I will be taking another break for the holidays until the 27th!
As always, thank you for your time! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! May you all stay warm and well!


  Simply,
        Sarah

Survey!

Hello everyone!

    Let's do a bit of a throwback, shall we? I used to love doing surveys in my tween years, so why not give it another go? Huh? You guys can learn some oh so random facts about me, and maybe I can have a bit of fun in the process. Also we can get some of the annoying holiday questions out of the way! :) It may be a tad bit juvenile, but here it goes!

1. What is your full name? Sarah Gayle Aulridge
2. When is your birthday? June 25, 1996
3. How tall are you? 4'11"
4. What do you miss? Ethiopia
5. Favorite color? Always changing, but at the moment it is forest green. But I always come back to light pink for some reason.
6. Favorite quote? "What we do in life echos in eternity"
7. Favorite place? Any road in my car :)
8. Favorite food? Open faced sandwishes
9. Favorite movie? The Gladiator
10. Musical group? The John Marshall Family
11. Musical instrument? I take piano, took clarinet, and guitar. I wasn't too keen on the clarinet, but I enjoyed guitar. Just decided to focus on one thing at a time :)
12. First thing you notice in a new person? Honestly, height. lol Then smile
13. Shoe size? 6
14. Eye color? Hazel- Brown and green
15. Hair color? Brown
16. Ever pulled prank? Yes! I love pranks!
17. Favorite song? Currently, "All Along"
18. My current relationship status? Single
19. Favorite holiday? I really like the Fourth of July, but Thanksgiving and Christmas have to be at the top of my list!
20. Do you have/want any piercings? My ears are pierced and that's enough for me.
21. Do you have/want any tattoos? Nope and nope!
22. Last book you completed? The Voice in the Wind
23. The last person you texted? Aunt Dana (One of my many "Mother #2"s lol)
24. How many past relationships? None
25. How long does it take you to get ready? Depends. if I have two hours I might take it! but if I am in a hurry and only have 15 minutes, I can be ready in probably 5 minutes. Granted I may look like I got ready in the dark, but yeah 5 minutes! :)
26. Music at a loud or reasonable level? Loud can be a reasonable level right?
27. Do you enjoy the outdoors? I am not very athletic, but yes I immensely enjoy the outdoors
28. Favorite form of exercise? Hiking or walking/running
29. Do you have any allergies? Possibly gluten, and fall or any other major "transition season" lol
30. How often do you get on Facebook? About twice a week
31. Where do you work? State Farm office as the front desk secretary
32. How many siblings do you have? I have four sisters. Only three at home though. Two as of January though- She's getting married!
33. What was your favorite subject in school? English. I love English! With the exception of my junior year. I hated all school that year. But I probably soaked up more information that year than any other in Writing.
34. What college major would you like to pursue? Oh so many possibilities! Maybe an English Major. That's what I am throwing around right now anyways.
35. Sarcasm? Yes or No? Blahahahahahahahahahaha!!!! No. ( For those of you that don't understand the language of sarcasm, that means yes.)
36. Three of your biggest fears? Falling, rejection, and spiders. In that order.
37. Favorite candy? Peanut butter M&M's
38. Most books read at once? Seven or eight
39. Favorite childhood book? Danny's Dinosaur, Ten apples on top, I'll Love You Forever, Curious George, The Lazy Lady Bug, I Love You, Blue Kangaroo!,... And tons and tons more! ...Okay you get it, my parents read to me a lot as a kid!
40. Favorite childhood movie? Toy story 2, because Jesse is awesome. I am was Jesse!
41. Favorite childhood toy? My Woody doll.
42. Favorite sport? Basketball
43. Place you would like to travel? Everywhere! But I'm probably supposed to pick one. For vacation, Italy. For missions, A jungle somewhere :) Anywhere really.
44. First car? A White 1992 Honda Accord. AKA Stella, yes I name my cars...
45. Favorite season? Summer!
46. Idea of a perfect evening? A rainy day with a mesmerizing book and Ethiopian coffee in hand, cuddled under my favorite quilt
47. Idea of a perfect date? Hiking, and a picnic or stargazing. Nothing big and fancy. Just sweet and simple.
48. Would you like to get married one day? Yes, I would love to!
49. Do you want kids? If so, how many? Definitely! At the very least four. Seven sounds like a good number to me.
50. How long does it take on average to write a blog post? About 2 hours.


I don't know if you guys enjoyed that or not, but it was actually kinda fun for me :)
With thanksgiving and Christmas and mission's conference at my church all being right around the corner, I have decided it best to take a break from my blog for a while. I will not be posting for two weeks. My next post will be on December 13th. I hope you all have a great thanksgiving this week wherever and with whoever you spend it! Happy holidays everyone!


  Simply,
        Sarah 

Stronger



Hiking at Fall Creek Falls
Photo Creds go to Kelley :)

Hiking Trip

[11.12.16]

  I went hiking with a group of friends from church today and I continuously thought, " Oh how the Lord continues to bless me!" I spent the day with friends I've had my whole life and some that are a bit new to my life. Though they all come from different places and backgrounds, they all continue to grow more and more important in my heart. If you have ever been in a time of your life when you didn't have many good friends, you will appreciate them all the more when you do have them! I know I do! I thank God for good godly friends that make an effort to do right! And influence me to do the same!

  Today I was asked by one of these friends if I had found some inspiration for writing while hiking. Did I find inspiration today? Yes. Yes I did. I found inspiration soon after this question. Not that I wasn't looking for it before, but I couldn't seem to see it when I could feel it was staring me straight in the face! So I gave a simple  "I don't know yet." answer and then prayed, " God, inspire me please! What am I missing? Help me to see what you would have me to see." Then boom! There was today's post! I was surrounded by inspiration within a second. So much that I'm afraid this post may appear a bit scattered. It's amazing what a small prayer can do! Huh? There was the intro! On to the actual post!

Hiking

  "Life is a journey." "It isn't about the destination, but the journey to get there." "Life is a climb, but the view is great." There are many quotes to choose from when it comes to finding an analogy for this life. Many have to do with hiking, or climbing. Life can be hard sometimes, and that's, well,... life. It's not always fair, or easy, but if we quit paying attention to only our footing we will be able to enjoy the beauty of the journey! Have some faith in this life! Look up! Yes, there are some times we must be tedious in our journey, but we are missing the blessings that are right in front of us if we choose to do so all of the time! Take some time to enjoy the journey! It doesn't have to all be full of somberness and perfection. Life is messy and it is no use trying to make it perfect. Just make sure it is worthwhile. Make sure it's clean and holy and lifting up the name of Jesus! Don't forget your destination, but enjoy the path God has laid before you! Have "Joy in the Journey!"

Trees

  As the guys were messing with some of the smaller trees trying to bend or even brake them, I saw that they weren't always as weak as they appeared. Sometimes the smaller "trees" being more flexible and willing to bend their natural will can be stronger than the tree growing naturally in one fixed direction. Some trees may look big and strong and beautiful, but are completely hollow on the inside. Where a smaller tree can be stronger because it is full of life. I see this as a great analogy of our salvation in Christ! When we are saved the Lord fills us with the life and strength of Jesus Christ. But if we try to only look and act the part of someone important or even saved ,the outside truly is not what matters. It's what is on the inside that really counts! No matter how big, strong, and beautifully put together we may look, without Christ on the inside we are all weak! A more uplifting side of this is this: even the smallest, and weakest of us can be made strong through the salvation of Christ our Lord!

  Now for those of us that are saved, we can also take a lesson away from this. Do we grow how we want to grow or do we allow flexibly for the Lord to bend us wherever He desires? He won't brake us without making us better than we were before! He may brake you, but He will never leave you broken! Unless you are stubborn and decide to try to fix it yourself. Believe me, it doesn't work that way!

  Another one of my friends looked at a tree that had grown in an seemingly disfigured way. "Can you tell me why that tree is growing that way?" This question being laced with a bit of sarcasm, I didn't take it completely serious. Why does God choose to grow us in the way He does? Though we may not understand, and the way of the LORD can seem odd to us, I know He has a plan that is better than anything we could've ever imagined! Just think of Joshua and the wall of Jericho! What an odd list of requests the LORD asked of the Israelites! I cannot tell you why the LORD chooses to do things the way He does, only that we must trust Him and His will, not our own. The obvious way is not always the best way! His way truly is perfect!

Roots

  I found myself watching my footing a lot in order not to fall. There were a lot of roots which to me were quite "cool" and very beautiful in their own way. Ironically, I've been thinking and praying about this a lot lately as you all know! My own roots. I've been hesitant to plant myself here for fear of the Lord uprooting me and moving me elsewhere. That would okay with me, though I know it could be painful to leave everything behind. We grow through our pain. Despite myself, I see the Lord has planted me here. Also, it's not exactly about planting myself in a place as much as it is planting myself in the Lord!  How much stronger I could be if I quit worrying about what place I need or want to be and simply focused on where I am in my walk and relationship with my Savior? It's funny how God can use even my clumsiness to teach me a lesson. It just goes to show you that He really does like to use our weaknesses to shape us for His purpose. And remind us how great He is and how small we are when we look at the big picture!

Stronger

  It seems to me a have an unintended repetitious theme for my post today. Strength. Or more specifically, getting stronger. In the LORD of course. Okay. Lots of short sentences happening here... sorry... Anyways, I know I haven't been doing all I can do to grow stronger in my relationship with the LORD. Who fault is that? The fault lies with none other than myself. Yup! I am the one to blame for the lack of time, the lack of interest (ouch! But true!), and the lack of focus to get closer to GOD! The hard truth is not fun to admit, but we as Christians all struggle with this at sometime or another and I just happen to be struggling a bit right now is all. I am working on it though! I am making myself sit down and read my bible, pray, and sit in silence in order to prove to Christ that I at least want to want a better relationship with Him! I force myself to focus on what the LORD is trying to say instead of "just reading". Your daily bible reading ( and yes it should be daily), is not just something to check off your list! I am guilty of this myself. Maybe we can all learn to do better together! I want to encourage you all to do better as I try to do better in my own walk with the LORD. The song "Have I done my best for Jesus" Enters my mind at this time. Have I done my best for Him? To put it simply, no. No, I have not. Have you? Let's all purpose to do better. To get stronger in our relationship with Christ and in our faith! As we go through this life, we are going to meet some obstacles. Though that isn't always fun, the path that obstacle may bring you on, may lead you on the most exciting adventure of your lifetime. Not only that, but we usually become stronger on more strenuous paths. So as my pastor wisely said on Sunday, Thank GOD for the struggles. Whether it be a physical illness, or a spiritual battle you are facing. There is a hidden blessing in every trial you go through. Maybe we will use our scars to help others heal. Again, I can't tell you why God does certain things certain ways, but He is right! He is always right! Let us grow stronger in a way that the LORD would well pleased!

  My blog hit over 3,000 views!!! I was seriously considering not writing this week on account of not having anything to write about. Yes, I have had a bit of the cursed writers block! It's not fun folks! Although, I've only been stuck with the lack of inspiration for my blog. Curious I know, but it has given me the chance to work and write a bit of other things that have been calling me for quite a while now. This week I felt as if I have started to get over my writers block. I must give credit to whom it is due! My sweet LORD is always giving me inspiration and I must thank Him for it! I also must say that the biggest inspiration second to my amazing God, is you. My readers. You guys amaze me! That you would take precious time out of your day to read my random thoughts simply baffles me! I love hearing what you think about what you are reading! I love knowing when or if you guys are enjoying what I am putting out there, because if not, then I may be wasting my time as well as yours! That is not my intention! Weirdly, I get a bit nervous when I find out "so and so" is reading my blog. I may act like a completely nervous fool, but I do appreciate it! I know this is a very public blog, which is why I choose not to discuss certain topics and aspects of my life with you guys. So why do I become nervous? Who knows? Probably because I over think it. (Always!) I start wondering about what you may have read, and what you thought about it. So let me know what you read and what you thought! Just ignore my awkwardness when you do! Believe me, no matter how nervous or awkward I may seem, I absolutely love hearing from my readers! When you take time to let me know that you enjoy my blog, that is what keeps me writing publicly. Why? Why do you read the published bit of my mind? It really doesn't matter why. But that you do, and I thank you for your time! I hope you all continue to read and I hope I can at least give you a small blessing each week! Again and again I will thank you guys!!!

   
Simply,

          Sarah 


P.S. Here are some pictures, as promised!

Photo Creds go to Amie :)

"Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend."
Proverbs 27:17

VOTE! - Election Day 2016

    Here I am listening, and waiting for the election results as I am sure many Americans are today! I've never been big into politics, and this year hasn't been very different. But this is my first presidential election where I actually have a voice! I must say I do care and I am a bit nervous about the results! Someone has to win right? So I did vote! I did use the voice given to me! I am hoping for the best when we as a nation deserve the worst! 

    I want to urge you to vote! If you don't vote, what was the point of the fight for our freedom of speech? If you don't vote as a woman you are giving up the right that many women before you had to fight for! Please! Go vote today if you haven't voted! It takes maybe five minutes of your time, to put your vote out there. To support the future! To honor the men and women that fought to give you this right! Support the future for this generation and the next by the simple action of voting!

    I simply want to urge you to make a difference where you can! It is your voice, your vote! Use it! You cannot complain if you don't! Don't you dare claim to be a patriotic person with a love for your country if you don't vote! You cannot say you have a heart for you country if you don't care about the outcome of her decisions! So yes, I am begging of you all to go out today and place your mark on the future of the United States of America!  

    I also want to urge and beg of you all to pray! I hope you are all praying with me today! Don't pray "let this person win" or "that person lose"! Pray that the good LORD will be merciful unto us again! Pray that God withholds His wrath from us for the few righteous men and women in this country! "Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake." I pray God will extend the same promise to us in America as He did to Abraham when he was speaking of Sodom!

  I know this is quite a short post today, but I hope you remember whatever happens it will be okay! Thank the God He is still on the throne! Either way. Trump or Clinton. Republican or Democrat. God, is still in control! I can find rest and hope in that one fact alone! I hope you can too!

    Simply,

          Sarah     

P.S. Would you guys be interested in reading my journal from my trip to Africa? Or would that bore you? I'm thinking of putting it up and letting you guys reminisce with me! Let you know!

Holiday Season is Coming!

Hello All!!!

    I don't know about you guys, but as Fall begins to show off her beautiful colors, I get a bit of a bug for the holiday season! I was out shopping yesterday for my maid of honor dress for my sister Bekah's wedding. Thanksgiving and Christmas décor was out and I have caught the bug guys! I'm wanting to go Christmas shopping soon! I actually have already started a bit! I'm probably going to try to be a crafty cheap-O this year! Thrift shops here I come! No joke, some of my favorite Christmas gifts have been from second hand shops! So why not?

    My family and I are beginning to prepare for Thanksgiving, and I am excited! My first gluten free Thanksgiving! You think I can do it? Maaaybe... lol! No, I am going to do this! I have found some awesome recipes and I have some awesome gluten free friends that I'm sure will be helpful! Though I'm not much of a cook, I do get excited to try new recipes! As well as nervous... We shall see how it goes! Maybe I'll try to bake a pie again,... lol that was a bit of a fail last year! But then again my friend and I had never tried that crust recipe so it didn't turn out, but this is the year of redemption right? Maaaybe... LOL! We shall see if I even have time to take another swing at it!

    We always have a good thanksgiving with friends and family and I don't think this year will be any exception! As our family grows, It becomes more traditional, festive, and put together because we have more hands to help! We also have more mouths to feed, so hopefully we can keep the stress levels down to a minimum! Especially for my oldest sister Hannah! She is sort of the hostess and the coordinator! Bless her heart, she has her hands full! We will get it done though!

    I hope we can all fix our minds on the true meaning of the season, instead of getting caught up in the hustle and bustle of it all! It is definitely easy to do! Especially with a big family! I catch myself getting stressed about who to buy for and what to cook, or wear to holiday events. But let us not forget Who we are supposed to be giving thanks to! Our Lord, Jesus Christ should be the center of our holiday season. Not a turkey or a Christmas tree smothered in gifts! Though I believe those things have there place, we must keep it all in the right perspective!

   Random thought: I am realizing that I am using a lot of exclamation points and I do apologize. I catch myself doing things like that and I become super paranoid about it, so I thought I'd mention it just in case it was getting on your nerves... You are not alone. I annoy myself sometimes too! lol! There is it again! I really need to stop! HAHA! Nah...

    Total rabbit hole there, but whatever! I will get back to the main subject! Anyways, not only have we been trying to prepare for thanksgiving but also the wedding coming up! I cannot believe my little sis is getting married in the upcoming year! That is just unfathomable to me! and to think that my sister Hannah has two kids is strange to say the least! She is a great wife and mother mind you, and I always expected her to be. It is just weird to think that so much time has passed that we are all at these stages in our lives! The holidays intensify these thoughts of mine. How time flies... Before we know it, we will all probably have grandkids of our own, wondering what in the world happened! It's funny really, how the time we are in seems slow but the time that has passed always seems as if it swiftly slipped away from us.

   I know this is short and simply a bunch of ramblings, but my mind is running too wild to be able to sit and write a long post today! Just a heads up, I am going to take a bit of a break from blogging after the election, so I can fully focus on life and preparations that need to be made for the holidays and my sister's upcoming wedding. Thank you for your understanding!

Simply,
    Sarah

Where is Your Hope?

Hello Y'all!

  Okay, I must say I am a bit unprepared this week! So I read my Bible and then BAM! there is was. My theme for today's post!

"Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his inheritance." Psalm 33:12

of course that has to be today's theme, because it's voting time! I am planning to early vote today! But then I read on and I came to this verse:

"Let thy mercy, O LORD be upon us, according as we hope in thee." Psalm 33:22

  This verse jumped out to me this morning! We worry so much about elections and politics and other things of this life! I know this one election in particular can be scary if that is all you are focusing on! Yet, I think we tend to forget that God is still on the throne! Do we hope in Him? When I read this verse, I got the impression that we will get mercy as we hope in Him. At least that was David's prayer right? I know God gives more mercy than I deserve! Even more than my hope in Him.

  Imagine with me for a moment, if we only received the same amount of mercy as the hope and trust we placed in Christ. I don't know about you but that would be a terrifying thing for me! I wouldn't get much mercy if that were the case! I believe we could all do better in this area. I can think of some people that had some great faith in their days! Darlene Rose (If you haven't heard of her, look her up! Read her book! She had amazing faith and a amazing story!). Corrie Ten Boom. Ruth. Mary's husband Joseph. Jim and Elizabeth Elliot. These are all people of great faith. But I remember, they were just people. Like you and me. They were nothing more than sinners saved by grace that decided and purposed in their hearts to live for God. To place their trust and hope in Him alone! We can do the same! It is possible for us to have that same unfathomable, and indescribable relationship with Him! Surely we all know they had their weak points, but that is only proof that they were human. Their stories live on because God uses those that place their hope in Him!

  Where is your hope? What are you trusting to get you to heaven? To get you through this life? You see, a lot of people have hope and trust that Christ will get them out of hell, but then what? They go on living in sin, and are just as miserable as some lost people! Why? Because they didn't trust God farther than the cross! This life can be tough without the LORD helping us through it yet; we kneel at the cross, beg for mercy and when the LORD gives it to us, we thank Him. But when He asked for us to go a little farther and fellowship with Him, we falter. Why? Because we are too busy to read our bible today. We can't sit and pray for one minute because we have something to do, somewhere to go. More important things... Ouch. Think about this! Our focus is misplaced so often! Our hope is misplaced just as much. Oh how sad a thing, to think that Christ died, literally died, and we can't give Him five minutes of our twenty-four hour long day!

  My family and I try to pray together in the mornings and my mom began timing it to see how much time we are really giving up. Eleven minutes. For my mother and my sisters and I to each say a prayer. Eleven. That is not much and yet it starts our day off right. It helps us to place our focus on God throughout our day. How much time would it take to simply say a small prayer to start off the day right? To read your bible? Don't get upset with me for preaching at you! I am as just as guilty as the next person! But how much time, do we truly have to spare when it's all laid out? How much can you give to Him? You and I both know He is worthy of so much more than we give Him!

  Back to the subject line! Where is Your Hope? Do you know how you can tell where someone places their hope? By listening to what they talk about. If a person talks about politics all of the time, or the stock market, or gas prices. Or even what a friend said about them or how many likes they got on social media. What are you hoping in? The next president? God, I hope not!!! Money? Friends opinions and/or what's "in"? Goodness gracious I hope not! All of these things come and go. They aren't steady! In the end it will all be as ashes. Useless void. But, my Savior is a strong foundation on which to place your hope! Never failing, always trustworthy. He is the God of all hope! The supplier of true hope! He is the true Hope!

  Your life will be proof of where your hope is laid. Remember that! So I ask you again, where is your hope? Now prove it!

  Simply,

         Sarah

Fall

Hello Readers!

    I have been on a bit of a ride of events over the past few weeks! I have helped put a fall festival together, had a nephew born, a sister engaged, and a load of many other things I won't get into! I've been so busy I must admit I have been struggling in staying faithful in the small things. Not that I couldn't make the time, but I honestly just didn't make enough. That's the truth. I have no excuse! I'm actually leading up to something here, just give me a moment! I'll get there eventually!

    I have been busy, as many people are this time of year, but I was driving down the road, and I caught myself speeding a bit so I slowed down. Once I did, I noticed that autumn is indeed upon us! It is absolutely beautiful! I thought to myself, how can I speed through this back road, through this season, and not notice the beauty all around me? So I slowed down some more. Thankfully no one was behind me, because I was probably going ten or fifteen under. I watched as the leaves slowly fell, and as the car in front of me blew them into their own little dance across the road and into the air. Last night, I watched as the moon climbed into its proper place from behind the Tennessee hills. It was beautiful. There truly isn't a better word. The daily miracles God bestows upon us through His creation are truly ineffable (Adj: Too great to be expressed through words)! This morning on my way to work, I had the pleasure of seeing the amazing sunrise! I will never tire of that! Our God is truly amazing!

    Take a moment to see the beauty this season. I don't think I will ever comprehend why God has made it possible for us to take pleasure in the glory of His creation! I am glad He does!  

    On to my point! As I had been speeding through life from one thing to the next, God simply told me to slow down, take time to enjoy the simple things in life. To be faithful in the small things. It's a bit of a pun really, today's post, but autumn is here, don't forget to fall on your knees daily in prayer! I know it's cheesy but, this is seriously what I believe the Lord laid on my heart to write! This season can become so busy that we become like the leaves blowing in the wind and though that can be a beautiful thing, I think we often forget that we must also take time to be still!

"Be still and know

that I am God..."

Psalm 46:10a

I am probably one of the worst at not being still! Because of this, I feel my Father reminding me almost daily to do just that!

"Be still my child!" "Stand still my daughter!" "Slow down! You will miss something wonderful!" "Wait!"

    Why is it so hard? Or more honestly, why do I make it so hard? I feel as if I am I child not understanding my Father's will. Sometimes not willing to understand. I can't say I have always wanted to understand or even give Him time to explain. Not that He owes me any explanation! I sometimes want to go my own way, because I feel as if I understand that. Oh the joys we miss out on when we go our own way in our own timing! These are too precious to pass up! we must die to self as the leaves are dying and fall to our knees in prayer and in humility! We can learn so much from the way God has chosen to conduct this earth, can't we?
    I have another cheesy point to my post today! I was discussing courtship with a friend who is about to be in that stage of life. She was asking me my take on it, where I would draw lines and such when or if my time comes. It got me to thinking about our courtship with Christ. That is what we are doing right? We are to marry Him one day right? So why not think of our walk and relationship with Him as a courtship? We are supposed to be getting to know Him, and we are supposed to be preparing for the big day! Inviting guests and laying up treasures for Him. Christ has definitely been doing His part! He showers me with blessings and gifts daily. He helps me to become a better person (if I let Him). He comes to call on me each and every morning, just longing to fellowship with me, even though He already knows everything about me! He has written me the most beautiful and probably the longest love letter of all time! If I were truly courting Christ, I would long to read that letter over and over again, until I could recite it by heart! I would run to the door when He came calling. I would let Him start a change in me for the better. I would return His favor of gifts with thanksgiving and love! Why don't we think of it this way? it sounds like the perfect fairytale doesn't it? Maybe it's the young girl inside of me, but I love it! I am courting the most perfect man that ever was, and He loves me enough to literally die for me! And one day He is coming to get me and we shall be married in the most beautiful venue anyone has ever seen! I shall sit by His side as He is crowned King of kings and Lord of lords! He shall rule and reign forever. And we shall live happily ever after!
    It truly is a real life fairytale! I am getting excited as I write this! Can you believe it? What love story! And we have a part in it! I know, I know, I'm preaching to myself again! I want to make a change, in that, I want to work harder at getting to know Him! I am going to go read that love letter now! How about you? are you courting Christ properly? Wouldn't it be a shame if when the wedding day came, we didn't know our Groom? So let's get to know Him! Let's fall in love with Christ! Yeah, there's the pun! :)

    Simply,

          Sarah

Hiraeth

 Dehna aderachu! Good morning! 

  I miss it. I miss the language. The culture. The people. The slow pace of life. I miss Ethiopia. It has been about a year since my return to the states. I long for the country so much I feel homesick. Homesick for a place I lived for only three and a half months. A place that was never my home, not really. But what is a home? A place where you keep all of your belongings? Or a place you feel you belong? They are not always the same. Ethiopia became a second home to me in my heart. I miss it. I cannot describe the love I have for that place! That culture. Those people. The hardest thing about it all is I don't know if the Lord would have me return one day or not. My heart longs to run back and live among the people in the midst of the vast beautiful mountains full of mud huts and cattle. But. I hate that word don't you? But, I don't feel as if that is my calling. Maybe one day. Maybe... A word full of hope and also the possibility of utter disappointment. These are words that emphasize the fork in our path. The decisions to be made. So many more decisions lie ahead, I know. I hate those tough decisions of choosing between the will of God and the will of my heart. I know there is no decision to be made. I already made a decision to follow the will of God.

  It is times like these that I am at a loss for words. How can simple paper and ink describe the deepest aching of my heart? Sometimes they can't. Sometimes words can only touch the surface of heartache, but how else can we communicate it? My hobby of writing has shown me my love for new words with deep meanings. Sometimes I find English words that I love, and sometimes I stumble across a word from a different language that speaks for my heart better than any word I've found in my own language. Hiraeth. A beautiful word with a sorrowful meaning. It is bittersweet. Ethiopia was never truly my home, and yet, I'm homesick. I may never be given peace about returning, though my heart longs for it.

  Please understand, I am so grateful for my time I spent over there! I believe it changed me for the better! Though I miss it dreadfully, I am thankful for the time I had. I know the Lord has me here for a reason. This is my first home. He has replanted me here and continues to urge me to grow right here, even if only for a short season. Maybe one day He will replant me somewhere completely different. It may be somewhere I would have never thought of in a thousand years! That is an exciting thought! Some plants start they're growing process best in a certain soil with delicate care. Once they are strong enough they can be plucked up and replanted in the place they were meant to be. I feel as if that is what my Father is doing for me. Preparing me for new soil. Where I don't know, but He does!

  Though I may miss the land of Ethiopia and I may call this place my  home I am looking forward to my Heavenly home!

♪♫♪

What a day that will be,

when my Jesus I shall see!

When I look upon His face,

the One who saved me by His grace!

When He takes me by the hand

and leads me through the promised land,

what a day, 

glorious day that will be! 

♪♫♪

If I can love an earthy place this much, how much more are we going to enjoy our Heavenly home? This thought excites me! This place is going to pass away but I will be planted for good on the higher ground! No more wondering. No more uprooting. Simply peace that passes all understanding!  How I look forward to that day!

  Yes, my heart is still heavy with longing for far away shores, but I can be happy in knowing that I am not planted here forever! Better things await me on that shore beyond the skies than any other land I know!

  I hope you will pray for me! To have patience. To grow where I am planted for God's glory! To have peace and contentment as I grow! To not become weary simply because of the stagnant waters I feel I am in at the moment, but to use it to better myself for the great cause of Christ!

 To all my readers, Ah-me-sug-e-na-lew (Thank you) ! I truly appreciate you checking out my blog! Until next Tuesday! Caio (Goodbye)!

  Simply,

        Sarah

Growing Pains

   Growing up can be a tremendous challenge! It is also a huge blessing because it truly does test your faith! My faith has definitely been tested over the past couple of years! In so many ways I can't even begin to tell you! No list today! :) Lately, it has been, well, again, many things! I have been challenged, discouraged, blessed, grateful, impatient, and confused! I have struggled with college decisions, among other things, but one of the toughest struggles about growing up has to be watching your childhood friends choose the path of this world. I cannot tell you how difficult it is to watch the people you love dearly turn their backs on GOD. Either that, or waiting on God to make His will clear, before you move! I have been struggling so much with each of these lately, it has definitely been a challenge! Please pray for me as I go through this phase of life! I sure hope it is only a phase!

    I have had plenty of friends come and go over the years. I must say I believe I have some of the best friends in the world right now, even if I don't have many. I'm in a strange stage of life, in that I am only 20 but I feel my closest friends are in their 30s. I do have friends my own age as well, don't worry, but I have found friends in the adult figures in my life. I never expected that to be a possibly. It's a good kind of weird! :)

    Waiting and waiting and waiting!

^"And he saith unto them, 

Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? 

Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea;

and there was a great calm."

  "O ye of little faith..." that is me! I am impatient at times, I am fearful at times. Yet, my God is still in control! How can I fear? How can I struggle with my faith and trust in Him after all this time? I'm human, that's how. I worry. I become anxious. I begin to drown in my own fears that Christ can pull me from if I only ask Him to. My my! How can I? How can You, Father, still love me, as I am weak in faith after all of the miracles and signs You have given me? It is easy to judge the children of Israel for their weak faith in the Lord after all they went through. My God is just as real now as He was then!

  Every time I begin to struggle within myself and my soul becomes weary, my sweet LORD softly sings "Be Still My Soul" to my troubled heart. How can I, like the raging sea, not be overcome by  a great calm at His soft rebuke? My GOD my GOD! How can I not obey? Lord, I pray that You will still my heart! I pray that I can stand still where you have placed me. Maybe one day you will decide to pull my roots up from here and set me elsewhere, but for now help me to grow where you have planted me!

  Growth hurts! This seems to be a theme among a few of my friends lately. Or maybe it just stands out to me because it is the theme of my life right now. I'm not going to act like I have it all figured out, because I don't. I'm not going to act like I have a lot of patience, because I don't. I'm not even going to act as if I am strong in my faith, because at this moment I feel weak. So weak and tired of waiting on God's timing! "When?" I ask. "How long?" "To what purpose?" "To what end?" I don't understand why it can't be now? I then realize, I must sound like a whiny child in the ears of my LORD! How humbling to think of myself in this light! Father, I'm sorry! I don't want to whine or complain! You have given me all I need. How can I ask for any more? I don't deserve what You have already blessed me with! I don't deserve any of it! Help me to trust in You!

 

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart

and lean not unto thine own understanding."

  The Lord has placed this verse on my heart a lot lately. No, I don't understand, so why try to follow my own understanding? I have none in this situation! I must trust in the Lord with all of my heart! That seems easy until you are placed in a situation in which your trust is tested! I thought I trusted the Lord, and now here I am struggling. Peter comes to my mind at this time. He thought he had faith and trust enough to walk on the water, until he had actually taken that step! I also remember he did walk on water! It was only when he took his eyes off of the Jesus that he began to sink. O my God! Help me to keep my eyes on Thee! I am weak without You.

"In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths"

  I know You send challenges to help us grow. Yes, it hurts, but as I continue to hear over and over during this time, "Change=Growth=Growing Pains"! This is time is not in vain. I know this because I know You do have a plan for me! I know You only want the best for me. Please help me to trust in that!

 "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,

saith the Lord, thoughts of peace,

and not of evil, to give you an expected end."

This quote has been continually on my mind

  Though this wasn't very detailed, I truly would appreciate all of your prayers! I thank you all for reading both my light and heavy hearted posts! May God bless you all! Until next week!

  Simply,

      Sarah

My Journey from Gluten Glutton to Gluten Free

[08.23.16]

This post may be a bit on the long side, so bear with me! I am going to be writing about a month long diet here! I have been having some minor health problems over the pass few years that have been gradually getting worse. I have just recently opened up to someone about it for the first time about a month or so ago. I don't want to get into all of that here- yet! Maybe one day I will face it and just come out and tell you guys what has been going on, but for now we'll keep it vague. Anyway, I had come to the end of my rope! I was tired and felt weak and just sort of depressed to be honest. I was feeling sick and didn't know what my problem was. I felt it was somehow my fault and there was nothing I could do about it. Weeelll,... I decided to start looking for a solution, or err, the problem. Which I believe could possibly be gluten! If it is gluten that would explain a lot! So why not try it? What could it hurt? Well, I will miss pancakes, and my almost-daily-bagel, also cookies, and BP&J sandwiches, wait,... can I eat anything? I heard that there is gluten in coffee once... Will I survive? So here we go on my first true diet ever, which I didn't even think of until I was two days in!

Week 1

[08.19-08.25] :

Well the first couple of days weren't that hard to be honest! I did pretty good even if I do say so myself! I went to Wal-Mart and bought salad stuff and fruit, and OHMYWORD IS THAT GLUTEN FREE COOKIE MIX??? It was! Thank my Father in Heaven for this wonderful blessing! "Now please GOD, don't let this be some cruel joke" I prayed as grabbed it off the shelf. It wasn't! You can't tell anything is missing! The first night was a bit tough going to Demos and not being able to eat the bread, but the AMAZING chicken salad made up for it!

I've been doing great since then! Until Tuesday, that is. I work in an office and people we give business to bring us things such as business cards and notepads. Some of them are very kind and bring Hershey's chocolate and muffins (I'm a sucker for a good muffin!). Tuesday, I was brought a bag full of doughnut holes! The aroma was seeping through the bag and drifting my way. I am a glutton for doughnuts and the temptation was getting to be too much to bear, so I stood up grabbed the bag with determination, and placed it in the back room. Once I sat back down, I must say I felt sort of proud of myself! LOL! A silly thing like that was good for me. I could proudly say "I am still going strong on day 5"!
I must confess though, I messed up on the 25th! Not on purpose though! I was happily making a taco with my corn tortilla and I took two bites and realized I didn't even think of the seasoning! So I checked, and yup! Gluten! UGH!!! So I gave my tacos to Bekah and made a breakfast burrito on a corn tortilla. I made a gluten free muffin mix on Thursday night and I must say they weren't great, but they weren't they bad either! They don't have the same consistency, or as strong of a taste, but still satisfying! I can do this!

Known Slip Ups:

•Two bites of a taco with gluten in the seasoning :(

What I Learned:

•Gluten may not be the solution to my problem, but this experiment has been good for me none the less!

• Denying myself of even the simplest things is difficult, but in the long run it is good for me.
• Cutting gluten out of my diet truly wasn't as hard as I thought it was.

• Eating healthy can be hard work, but the outcome is so much more healthy and tasty!

•Giving up gluten does not mean giving up all bread and/or tasty treats. I can still have muffins! (Which is a great thing to know!) but I simply have to make my own!

•Maybe I'll be a better cook at the end of this thing... Or I'll live on salads... Who knows?!

•It's hard living the gluten free life, because well, people. I know this always my main complaint in any subject, but hey people can be pretty annoying sometimes! I don't hate the human race, by the way, I just don't always like people okay? okay. On to my point! You have to ask if something is gluten free and you always get "the look". You gluten free peeps out there know what I'm talking about! You know the look that makes you wonder "do I have an extra head or something?" Because they look at you like you're plain crazy sometimes! Why is that so weird to ask? It may be an allergy! I'm not trying be a health freak or "one of those people" as you call it. Yes I have been asked this ( I think they were joking? I hope so anyway! LOL) But, would it be so bad if I were???

• I know more people that are gluten free than I thought I did! YAY! More recipes!!! And pointers! I can use all the help I can get!
• Coffee doesn't have gluten in it, but some creamers do

Week 2
[08.26-09.01] :

Dun Dun DUN!!! I made it to round two! Woo-hoo! Yay me! Okay enough of the self praising thing Sarah! People will think you are either really self-centered or just plain crazy. Ahem. Now where were we?
This gluten free diet is starting to become a habit now. Like I said, Starting!!! At times I reach for something with out thinking, but soon realize I can't eat it. But I must say, I am starting to get used to it!
I made breakfast for dinner the other day [08.29]. I made pancakes, gluten and non-gluten, and I was told there isn't much of a difference in the tastes! So, I'm not truly missing out, now am I?
I just received some new gluten free recipes from a friend and I am excited to try them and let you know how they go! I may not get to it until next week unfortunately!
I have been noticing a huge difference in myself recently! Especially this week! I feel more like myself! I don't feel totally beaten down with exhaustion all the time. My skin is starting to clear up (though I've still got a ways to go there!!!). I also have been a bit more sociable. I've actually had people tell me these things! For me that is a big deal! My usual nicknames at home are things such as- Hobbit, or Hermit. My room is called my cave on a pretty regular basis! Lol! Maybe you see the picture! I'm not normally known as one to start a conversation, or be social! Maybe I'm not as introverted as I once thought-though I still believe I am an introvert (always and forever)!
[08.30] So glad Mexican and ice cream have gluten free options- even if it isn't exactly healthy...
[08.31] I baked the muffins! I couldn't wait! They were actually pretty good! I may try them again though just to get it exactly right! I still have a Lava Cake recipe to try :)

Known Slip Ups:

•I may have accidentally licked my finger after making (egg-free, but not gluten-free) pancakes for my family... That's not too bad though is it???

What I Learned:

• I am so blessed! The more I've looked for guidance in my diet, the more I have seen the daily struggles of others. People struggle with celiac disease everyday, and I am simply trying this out to see if its a problem. Some people become crippling sick if they eat something that has even come in contact with gluten!
• I have learned more about some diseases that cause gluten sensitivity.
• My focus has been improving a little bit.
• This may sound weird, but I have even seen a difference in my spiritual growth! Maybe food affects more than we all realize!
• Another coffee fact -though coffee is gluten-free, it can mimic gluten after consumption. But it hasn't been proven to do so with organic whole bean coffees. (Ethiopian coffee, here I come!!! :) )
•Dairy can also mimic gluten after consumption in some people- So far I don't believe that is the case with me. But I don't consume a whole lot of dairy on a daily basis though, so it may be?

Week 3

[09.02-09.08]

Wow! I can't believe I'm starting my third week of this diet! I have three more to go counting this week! I may end up staying on it after the month is up, but not being so strict on myself. Then again, we will see how I feel!!!

[09.04] I messed up!!! I ate chicken alfredo without the noodles, but forgot that there is flour in the alfredo sauce... and then I had ice cream- that's safe right? Well, unless it was cookies and cream... yeah. I messed up bad guys! I'm sorry! Seriously, I am so sorry! I was feeling it for the rest of the day! I bet it would have been a lot worse, but I decided I was not going to let that ruin the great day I had been having. I drank over 3.5 liters of water to clear all of that gluten out of my system! I felt so much better! I still felt like I was recovering, and I slept pretty late the next morning. I am going to make it through this guys!!! I simply must be more aware!

[09.05] A friend gave me some gluten free cookbooks!!! The Gluten Free Bible and a slow cooker recipe book as well! I also had another friend give me a pumpkin bread recipe. I am so elated about this guys!
[09.08] A friend of mine kindly gave me some gluten free cookies! They were good!

Known Slip Ups: 

•I had chicken alfredo sauce and cookies and cream ice cream... don't worry, I was properly punished for this misdemeanor!

• I think I may have made a mistake I don't know about because there was one night I felt awful! I don't know why though! Like I said, still learning!!!

What I Learned:

• Some people are allergic to not only gluten but all flours!!! 

• Rice Krispies are gluten free!!! As are rice Krispie treats!!! YAY!... and Duh...

• I'm almost convinced gluten is my problem now... At least a small part of my problem anyway! Then again it may be caused by many things, but I would guess it is caused by yeast as well. Good news! That is fixable!!! Maybe I should try to see if that is the problem too...

Week 4

[09.09-09.15]

[09.09] I went out to eat with friends and got my first glance at the nutritional guide (sounds fancy doesn't it?) at O'Charlie's. I ended up getting a salad that was pretty good!

[09.13] I must say now days its becoming such a habit that I almost forget I am even on a gluten free diet! It is becoming easier as I go! I'm still learning though! The other day I was trying to make some garlic biscuits (gluten free of course) and I only used coconut flour! So of course they crumbled and fell apart! Silly me! I truly don't know what I'm doing! Not yet anyway! I'm learning through trial and error, and that's okay! I am truly thankful to have friends that are gluten free and actually know what they are doing! It is so helpful!

Wow! Week four has come and gone!!! I can hardly believe it! I haven't opened this journal up to write for a few days and I lost track of time and let week four slip by without writing hardly anything about it! Let me catch up!

My amazing mother went shopping and bought me gluten free bread among many other gluten free products! I am so excited about that! I have no idea what happened to this week to be honest with you! I did eat gluten free, but I don't think anything else exciting happened besides my mom getting me some gluten free products! Ooohh! Wait! I did make gluten free pancakes again but this time I put blackberries in them and I basically deep fried them in vegetable oil to make them more crispy, and OHMY! They were delicious! I will be doing that again in the future for sure!

Known Slip Ups:

 •I used only coconut flour in an attempt to make garlic biscuits.

What I Learned

• You can't make bread with only coconut flour! It just falls a part! Hehe! Yeah, I'm truly that ignorant about this stuff!
•Oats are gluten free, which makes chocolate oatmeal cookies gluten free as well... I shall make some soon!

Week 5

[09.16-09.22]

I have got this! I know I can do this! I got my weeks mixed up a bit and thought I was starting week four when I was actually starting week five! Time has flown by! I have been gluten free for over a month now as of Sunday! Who would have thought I could do this? Not me! But here I am! Maybe I shouldn't, but I feel a bit proud of myself! Even though I should have backed off the sugar more than I did!

[09.18]  I got the chance to try a gluten free slow cooker recipe. It was super easy and my whole family seemed to like it! I may try another soon! I made chocolate oatmeal cookies, and I have missed those! I would really like to try a bread recipe this week but I would have to find the time to go buy the flour... I may have to do that next week!

[09.19] I had leftover pancakes, eggs and a small glass of milk for breakfast. I packed my backpack and went on a short "hike" with some friends. We munched on our snacks we had brought. They had crackers and such and I had an apple ( I got the better end of that deal right?) We went out to eat and I got a salad that came with a crescent roll on the side! I set it in the middle and let them have at it. The salad was satisfying. I didn't have time for supper because I went to a church meeting, but I was so hungry when I got home I ate a small plate of chicken, green beans, and radishes at 11:30pm! Yeah I'm crazy I know! I didn't want to go to bed on an empty stomach! Had it not been out already, I probably would have simply gone to bed,... but it was out, sooo... Do you see how badly I need self discipline???

[09.20] I have been slowly backing off the sweets, but I'm going to try even harder this week! I've been eating too much sugar in the mornings! All of the pancakes I've eaten are smothered in sugar and I can't be doing that! That defeats the purpose of a diet! Not that I am trying to lose weight (which I probably could/should)! Again with the self discipline thing! I have got to work on that!

Known Slip Ups:

•None. Just need to back off of the sweets a bit more!

What I Learned:

•You can do anything you set your mind to! If you are determined you can do it!

•It is very difficult to do something you are uneducated about! I suggest if you do decide to go gluten free, read up on it! Learn more about it before you try it. If you don't you are setting yourself up for failure! I did read up on it a bit, which is why I decided to do this, but I wish I would have studied it more! I've been learning as I go!

•If I set my mind to do something, I can be super stubborn! You will not change my mind!

A bit of a sermon for you guys! I was realizing how determined I had become to make it through this diet and stick to it, even though it was something I never thought I could do. A sermon called "You Can Do It" was preached Sunday night. I thought yes, look at how far I have come in this thing I never thought I could, but because I became determined to do it, I have done it! This has applied to other areas of my life such as foul worldly music, among many other things. I purposed in my heart to do it (or not do it) and I got to it! It is easy to do right, when you decide to do right! Don't think "I'm not going to do this or that ever again!" Think, "I am going to please to my Heavenly Father today"! One day at a time. You can't simply focus on what you can't do! You will become discouraged! Believe me I know! Focus on what you can do to bring the LORD glory and praise in the way you live. Whether that be food, music, clothes , language, movies, or whatever. These are things the Lord is still working on in my heart, slowly changing one thing at a time. We must all place our focus on pleasing Him, because that is why we are here. To bring Him the glory and honor He so richly deserves! Ahem. That was free.

 

    Simply,

         Sarah

The Secret Struggles of a Writer

  Every writer knows, there is something a bit different about us. We have weird quirks and weird mindsets. We see the world in a different way. I'm going to spill the beans about our secret struggles. I call these struggles because, well, we can't really help but be this way, even if we try to change we end up deciding it's just who we are! So hold on, it's about to get real!
Grammar
• We are always correcting your grammar, whether silently or aloud. Incorrect grammar can be irritating!
• We are sincerely grateful when you have correct grammar and may just ask the good LORD to bless you for it!
•We even get irritated with ourselves for making grammar or spelling mistakes!
Communication
• We are not always the best communicators. Unless you give us a pen and a piece of paper!
• We love using words that are not commonly used.
• We might be bad at telling stories in person on the spot, but give us sometime to pull it together, and you may be surprised at the difference!
Reading
• Writers love to read. I've never met someone that writes and doesn't read!
• We find pleasure in playing with sentence structure. We know we are a bit nerdy :P
• We not only read, we enjoy finding ways to re-write phrases in our heads.
• Completely fangirling over a sentence is common. "Ooo!!! I love that sentence!!!"
• Writers also secretly have the names of their favorite book characters picked out to name our future children, umm... or characters
Personality
• Many writers have a love of lists... Duh!
• Many writers have a love for old things, such as typewriters... and history, of course!
• A lot of us have a deep appreciation for music, even if we are not musically inclined.
• We are usually organized in some way, if not completely OCD!
• We are somewhat introverted, and sometimes a bit socially awkward.
• We are usually pretty observant. We subconsciously notice and take mental notes of everything to use later in writing.
• Words are beautiful. A lot of writers can get more pleasure from reading the description of a picture than simply looking at the picture itself. Words are prettier to us. Or we enjoy looking at a picture and we see words to describe it in our head. (Now that is fun!)
• We can usually be entertained by our own thoughts. Writers have a crazy imagination! You have no idea how crazy our head can be!
Fears
• We secretly are intimidated by other writers
• We have a secret stack of scribbling's hidden away that we will probably never show to anyone, because they aren't completely perfect. But we will never throw them away, because they are a piece of us.
• Some writers are never discovered because they never believe they are good enough to share their work.
• Who knows how many drafts we have ready to go, but we aren't ready to shared that part of our souls quite yet. So next time someone asks you not to read something- DON'T READ IT! It's not some cute game! We hate it when people say " If you don't want anyone to see it, then you shouldn't have ever written it!" This is like telling an emotional girl not to cry. Come on, its gonna happen! Just let it be!
Writing
• We sometimes write in our head about the things around us.
• Our families know this, but we make super weird and serious faces while writing. So if you see this face -Do not disturb! It means "Light bulb!" and when you speak you could possibly switch that off :( Not good.
• Two words: Writers block. Not good. We feel so useless when we catch writer's block! We also feel awful to hear someone else caught it! (But at the same time we feel relieved it's not just us or it wasn't us this time! lol!)
• We read and re-read our writing out loud to make sure our grammar is correct and we sound like somewhat normal human beings!
• We are stone walls when we have a light bulb moment!  We will probably have to be shaken before we hear anything!
• We know when we have inspiration we must run! Write it down as quickly as possible! Because if we don't grasp it now, we may lose it.
• "Oh! I have a great idea for a new story!" said the writer with ten other stories waiting to be finished.
• We love getting to know our fictional characters
• Sometimes we are even surprised at our own plot twists. Wow, didn't see that coming! And that is the joy of writing! When something amazing appears on the paper, and you didn't originally plan it.
• We all have that extremely irritating moment when we are writing in past tense then half way through we realize, over half of it is in present tense!
• "What are words?" is something I believe we have all asked ourselves as we stared at a blank sheet of paper for an hour.
• When writing at one o'clock in the morning, we have different styles and tastes than we would at ten o'clock in the morning
• If the FBI were to look at our search history, I believe most writers would be behind bars, or in insane asylums!
• Though we love to write, it can be a very frustrating challenge!
• We always struggle keeping within the word maximum on essays
• We go through the same emotional roller coaster our reader will, even though we are writing the story!
• We struggle knowing when to stop writing. Because we could always add so much more...
Why We Write
• We don't always understand our own thoughts. We write to spill our souls onto a piece of paper in order to better understand ourselves.
• We are dreamers. We still believe dreams can come true. We like to be the one to make them come true. If it can't come true in this life, why not create a life in which it can?
• Writers are very passionate about their work. If they write stories, the characters are very real to them, so handle with care! We grow to love them almost as much as we do the real people around us. We love them, grieve with them and rejoice with them as if they are childhood friends.
• Most of us had a dream of becoming a famous writer one day, but later decided (probably in high school) that we couldn't handle that sort of pressure and just stuck to writing for ourselves.
• We write and will continue to write because the process is simply, well I don't know if there is a simple way to put it! It is relieving, stressful, an escape, frustrating and an absolute must! We feel as if we don't write we will boil over! We feel things so deeply, we have to have a place to store some of those feelings and emotions. Our head doesn't have enough space to occupy all of our thoughts at once.
  I hope you guys enjoyed this list! If you have any questions or comments about my secret struggles as a writer, comment below! Thank you all so much for reading! I still can't believe I actually have people reading my scribblings!


  Simply,

     Sarah