Don't Try So Hard

Trying too hard.

To be at peace...

John 14:27 - "I am leaving you with a gift - peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don't be troubled or afraid."

I cannot try to be peaceful. I cannot give myself peace. Only the Holy Spirit can grant me peace of mind and heart. What a gift! To know that the Lord provides all my needs! I need not ask anyone else, or try to have peace. I need only call upon the name of the Lord, and He will pour out His peace on my heart.

Philippians 4:19 - And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from His glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

To have patience...

Psalm 27:14 - Wait patiently for the Lord.

Who am I waiting on? The Lord God. His timing is perfect, and His will is flawless.

Psalm 5:3 - Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.

Be peaceful and wait on Him.

To love those of the world who are so unloving...

The Lord Jesus didn't look for others to accept Him, or give Him love.

His reward did not come from men, but from His Father in heaven.

If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ's servant (Galatians 1:10).

Fix your eyes on the things of heaven, not the things of earth.

For this world is fading away (1 John 2:17).

The darkness is disappearing, and the true light is already shining (1 John 2:8).

I cannot rely on my own strength or energy to be at peace, to have patience, or to love others.

I can only rely on Jesus Christ to show His love through me.

Peace

My God created the whole world and everything in it. Everything is set in motion because of Him - the One who stands out of time.

Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad?

My Lord Jesus has been ahead of me. He knows what His own plans are for me - plans for good, and not for disaster. To give me a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)

I won't copy the behaviors and customs of this world, but I will let God transform me into a new person by changing the way I think. Then I will learn to know God's will for me, which is good and pleasing and perfect. (Romans 12:2)

I need to constantly ask Him to change the way I think about things. I am very impatient sometimes. But I need to remember that the Lord's timing is perfect. He is never too slow to answer. When am I ever going to learn to trust and really wait on Him, with my mind and my actions?

Jesus said, "I am leaving you with a gift - peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don't be troubled or afraid." (John 14:27)

Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise Him again - my Savior and my God! (Psalm 43:5)

Jesus is Lord

Jesus is Lord

From the heights of heav'n

To the depths of the sea

Jesus is Lord

He gives every breath an'

shines His light in me

~~~

Share His love among the lost

Sing His name 'til the last breath

Stand with Him no matter the cost

For He is the One who conquered death

Drops in the Ocean

It is well into winter, I know, but I wanted to share a video I made of all my photography of the ocean these past few years. It's purely for my love of the ocean and the song that went so perfectly with it. Yeah, this is a weird post to give you after I haven't been here for a while...again...

Hope you enjoy it!

Titus

My little sister has a Bearded Dragon. First his name was Turtle, and was quickly changed to Titus...and now some of us are convinced he should have been called Puddleglum (from Narnia).

Here he is as a baby

On my finger ^^^

 

On my shoulder while I'm drawing

 

I love his eyes

Don't worry, he looks this grumpy all the time ;)

But he's actually extremely friendly.

He even cuddles with us when he's tired at night ^_^ 

Snowflakes on the Window

It is bitter, bitter cold up on our hill. A gentle snow is falling, nothing much, but there are full, beautiful snowflakes in the flurry! So I grabbed my new best friend - the 'quick attach microscope' on my phone - and ran outside to see how God would take my breath away this time <333

They're a bit blurry, but amazing to behold.

GOD IS BEAUTIFUL

Snowflakes

If you have seen the movie 'Frozen', you will recall the beginning scene of all those beautiful snowflakes floating by and growing more detail on them as they fell. Snowflakes actually do that.

<---- Click on the picture for a closer look.

I received this amazing little gadget thing for Christmas. It clips onto my phone and covers the camera lens in a sort of microscope.
<--- As you can see, the interior has a bright light on the side so I can even use it at night.

And it snowed tonight! Real, full, breathtaking snowflakes! So I took an excessive amount of photos out on our front porch... Enjoy!

The flakes were a little soft and thick,

and their designs weren't very clear,

but still amazing.

I love this one ^^^

This one was almost 3D, it was so incredible.

And these last two are just little snowflake parts.

Things I Love About Winter - Day 2

Wow...okay. My heart needs to catch up.

Let's just say...today and yesterday were, by far, the strangest in my life.

And long...very long.

But everything's okay!

 Just a minor...catastrophe, I guess you could call it. 

But praise Jesus, all is well.

So...discard my words about hoping to post every day in December!

That was my plan, but the ultimate Plan of God always prevails.

On with my winter post!

I love making paper snowflakes.

I love cutting out the patterns,

then unfolding the paper and seeing all the details in full.

I'm trying to make a big bunch to hang in my older sister's room

 for when she comes home next week!

We started opening the doors on my homemade advent calendar! The first picture was a painting of two red cardinals in the snow. I honestly can't remember half of the pictures I glued on the inside of the calendar, but I'm glad. Everything will be a surprise!

I really love wrapping Christmas presents. All the pretty paper, the bows, the name tags, and the excitement of having everyone guess what I got for them. I love Christmas secrets <3
There's one present I'm particularly excited about giving...but it's not for anyone in my family. And I made it, so that's even more exciting ^_^
I wish I could tell you, but I never know who might be reading my blog!

Lastly, I love freezing rain. Yes, I would rather it be snow, but I love the look of the trees glazed with ice, and the little frozen drips on the branches. I took this picture this morning after the cold, rainy night we had.

My dad and I are going to bring my sister home in less than a week! It's going to be a hard trip, but I'm so excited. It came so fast!

I can't wait to get our tree, decorate it, light it, and have those nights when we all sit in the living room with the tree as the only light in the room. So cozy.

It will only feel truly Christmas-y when my sister is home <3

Things I love About Winter - Day 1

Yesterday, my parents put up the lighted garlands, the sparkly snowflake ornaments, and the little Christmas wall plaques around the house.

I spent all afternoon making our Christmas advent calendar! I wanted to use glitter glue, but the paper kept wrinkling and bubbling and I wouldn't have been able to cut out the little doors. But now that I have finished, I might add some glitter ;)

As is tradition in our house, we all stood on our driveway in the snow on Thanksgiving night and watched while my dad switched on the colorful lights on the porch. The pine tree looked so pretty with the lights on under the snow!





Now all we need is a Christmas tree and we're good. I believe we'll be picking out our tree next Sunday, but we're going to wait another week to decorate it when my sister comes home!

I can't wait to wrap presents and put them under the tree ^_^

Happy Thanksgiving!

Snowstorm! Aah so cozy. I have a mountain of snow on my windowsill and a perfect view of our woods covered in snow, snow, snow.

I have a late-autumn cold, Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and I'm so excited!

The first four photos are of the same scenery out my bedroom window. See how the snow built up?

Happy White Thanksgiving!!!