11.6.11

It's been a perfectly lovely Sunday afternoon! I'm sitting here curled up on my bed, typing away and listening to Josh Groban sing "Silent Night"....so beautiful! It's hard to believe Christmas is coming up so soon! I've been listening to Christmas music and watching Christmas movies (we watched the premiere of Love's Christmas Journey last night - really good!) - which is quite uncharacteristic of me. Usually I wait until after Thanksgiving to get in the "mood" - but for some reason, it's struck me early this year! :)

We have had a wonderful Sunday so far! It started off with a great Sunday School lesson - we just started a new study based on the movie The Grace Card - if you have never seen it, I HIGHLY recommend it! It has an incredibly powerful message! The first lesson through this study was this morning and it was very good! We discussed what grace is and how although we are so unworthy and undeserving, Christ extends grace to all of us! We focused on how we need to also extend grace and forgive those who have wronged us. This is something I have been dealing with for some time, so I'm anxious to see what things the Lord will teach me in the coming weeks!

I hope that all of you are having a wonderful Sunday as well!

Like A Paint Brush

"Your attitude is the paint brush of your mind. It colors your world with dark negativity - or brilliant optimism."

- John C. Maxwell

True Joy

Last night, I went to a corn maze with seven other people from my church. It was a crazy time - getting slightly lost, our hands feeling like they were going to fall off from the cold, going out for pizza afterwards....but it was great to be able to get together and laugh and just have fun!

Sometimes I think we make fellowship too hard....I know I just like to BE with other people! It doesn't have to be an elaborately planned party. Just a time that is set aside to talk about random things, eat some good food, and laugh. I'm glad that being a Christian doesn't mean we can't have any fun. I repeat - being a Christian does NOT mean that we cannot have fun! Jesus didn't come to die for our sins so that we could have solemn faces and think that it's wrong to laugh or have a good time. Jesus came to give life - more abundant! He came to give us JOY!

I think there is a difference between "happiness" and "joy". Happiness is circumstantial - you are happy because you like the way things are going - your circumstances determine your state of happiness. True joy is being able to be "happy" or joyful even in the midst of less-than-ideal circumstances. Only Jesus Christ can provide true joy.

I want the joy of the Lord to affect every part of my life - the way I talk, the way I respond to people, the way I act.....you know what? People notice the JOY! They can sense there is something DIFFERENT about you when the joy of the Lord is evident in your life!

Thoughts?

A New Start....

Some of you may remember me from when I blogged regularly a year or so ago at Dare to be Different. Then I became busy and uninterested in blogging (Facebook has a way of preoccupying my time!), but now I'm ready to start up again. I decided to start this new blog, with a new look and a new purpose: I want everyone who reads this to be encouraged and I would love to share different things that the Lord is teaching me! I hope to still post pictures once in a while of my family, but I'm looking forward to having a place where I can put my thoughts into words and get feedback from my readers.

I hope you "follow" my blog (check out the sidebar on your right) and that you check back often!

~ Tori