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Good morning everyone! Today is day three of the 30-day Giving Challenge, and it's also Word-filled Wednesday! So on this wonderful Word-filled Wednesday, I thought I would share some Bible verses about giving:
One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. ~ Proverbs 11:24 (NIV)
For my giving today, I have decided to give the family a candle light dinner. My son has been asking why we never use our candles and if we could do this. I have been saying no, but now I'm thinking 'why not!' I think I am even going to let the boys help me cook, and we can give daddy a surprise when he comes home from work!
WFW is not about books, authors, artists.. it’s about God and HIS WORD ONLY. WFW is about celebrating the gift of creativity through God’s Word.
It has been a long busy day. I didn't get started on my writing until after the kids were in bed, and I just met my word count goal for the day (at 11:00 at night) and I can't update it, because their website is down for maintenance. :( They keep track of whether or not you meet your goal each day and I am hoping that it is back up in time for me to put it in for today. Plus, I am now ready for bed, and I am putting off sleeping, so that I can put it in. This is very frustrating, but on the flip side, in light of eternity it doesn't really matter if I update my word count tonight, tomorrow, or never...
My novel is coming along great. I had a good portion written in my head before the month started, and it is a little challenging for me to go back to the beginning and in a since, re-write it. Things are going down differently than I had originally thought they would. I think it will still turn out nicely though. I'm not doing too bad for my first novel! I'm at 3,860 words!
The story starts out at the funeral of Elizabeth's husband, Chris. It doesn't say how he dies (I'm not even sure yet...) but I'm sure at some point it will come to light. Anyway, Elizabeth's pastor and his wife invite her and her three small children over for dinner one night, where they approach her with a proposal. One of the guys from their church has asked if they would be willing to mediate an arranged marriage between him and Elizabeth. She doesn't know what to think of this, and quite frankly, she isn't really sure she wants to. But after a few days, she finds herself a little curious and she is talking with her pastor's wife (who is also her dear friend)...
So that's where I am right now. The goal of NaNoWriMo is to write freely, and not worry too much about editing. So I'm kind of resisting the urge to go back and re-read it, because I know me. I will get caught up in the small details, it's just who I am.
I hope that all of my other writing friends are enjoying themselves as much as I am, and I hope that all of my other friends can put up with all of my posts this month...
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst is a 365 day Bible study tool. It has short daily Bible readings that are each accompanied by a commentary. It focuses on the Old Testament and more specifically on the words God spoke directly to people. It had a fabulous introduction, but the lack of an afterword was greatly noticed as the book ended rather abruptly.
There were some great readings included in this book, but the punctuation (or lack thereof) in this book made it hard for me to follow. That accompanied by the typos makes this a book I will not be recommending. It wasn’t challenging or inspiring, but there were a some really enlightening readings (however, I had to go back and read in my Bible the passage that was being referred to, for fear of mis-information... so I guess you could say the author made me think?).
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through BookSneeze.com, the book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Breakdown: Worldview: Biblical Target Audience: I would guess this book is intended for a busy person who has little biblical knowledge, but longs for more. If there weren’t a few major errors it would be great for a new believer. Positive Elements: One of my favorite readings was day 256, I just loved the way he tackled an old wives tale and brought the truth to light with Scripture. Inappropriate Language: None Unbiblical Content: Just to name a couple (I think they were just typos) but day 4 (p. 23) said that when Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to get grain that one of them, Joseph, was imprisoned and wouldn’t be released unless he sent his youngest son… and on day 144 (p.169) it said God will now allow his word to be destroyed or undone by human actions. (I’m assuming it was supposed to say not instead of now…) Other Negative Elements: The lack of punctuation…
Today is the second day of the giving challenge, and I am loving reading the amazing ideas that everyone has been coming up with! You can read what other people have been giving by checking out the list of blogs at the bottom of the 30 Day Giving Challenge blog (and if you are participating you can link your blog there as well).
This morning I gave my time to my husband who needed some things at work, that he didn't have the time to come home and get. One of the things I gave him was our vacuum, because his store doesn't own one (they don't have any carpet, he needed it for cleaning the oven filters...). This did take away from our homeschooling this morning, but the kids are doing great, and I think we will catch up just fine!
Have you given something today? If so I would love to hear about it! (Leave me a comment to tell about it, or share your blog link with me. :)
The end of day one of the giving challenge is drawing to a close. I must say that being a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom, I don't have a whole lot of opportunities to give so I am going to have to get creative!
My giving for today: I gave my kids an extra hour of sleep this morning (and we still finished school on time!) I gave my son permission to play on the computer during our lunch break (he is normally only allowed to play on Saturdays)and I gave all of my children Freezer-Pops :) In return I was given lots of smiles!
(The subtitles are in German I think, but the song is in English and a great song about giving!)
I thought that I would share my notes from church yesterday with you. We are in the midst of studying Philippians, and this week our pastor taught on Philippians 1:22-30. His sermon was titled "The Victorious Church", because we have victory in Christ and through Christ (1 Cor. 15:57, 2 Cor. 2:14, and Rom. 8:37)
There are 4 necessities for victory listed in these verses: serving, standing, striving, and suffering. So he talked a little about each one.
1. Serving each other (Philippians 1:21-22) Fruit is the expression of life. Just as grapes come from a grapevine, Spiritual fruit comes from the Spirit. Serving is something that Jesus did, and if we love Him we will follow His example. John 15:8, Romans 15:28, Galatians 5:22-23, 1 Corinthians 16:15, Hebrews 13:15 and 6:10
2. Standing together (Philippians 1:23-27) We need to live in a way that is consistent with the Gospel. Does your life reflect the Gospel? We need to stand in unity and in love, and we need to stand firmly together. Philippians 3:20 and 4:23, John 13:35, and Ephesians 4:1-3
3. Striving on purpose (Philippians 1:28) We need to strive together and strive on purpose. We can't stand together if we don't all have the same purpose in mind. Ephesians 4:1-3, 1 Peter 3:15, Jude 3, 2 Timothy 1:7, 2 Timothy 1:14, and Psalm 73
4. Suffering in grace (Philippians 1:29-30) We suffer for a reason, God always has a purpose. (similar to the suffering a coach puts his team through in practice. Drills and whatnot...) "The more a diamond is cut, the more it sparkles" - Anonymous Acts 16:16, Philippians 3:10, 1 Thessalonians 3:3, Matthew 5:10, 2 Corinthians 12:10, and my favorite Romans 5:3-4
A victorious church will serve each other, stand together, strive in a purpose, and suffer in grace.
We closed our service by sining this song, which I love, and it really impacted me after this particular service. I love they always pick music that is related to our sermon. It just makes it more meaningful!
Today is the first day of November, and that brings 2 things! 1st it is the first day of National Novel Writing Month! Woo Hoo! I just started writing down my novel (I have 572 words!) and I am excited! I had to make myself stop so that I could start school with the kids :)
Second it brings the 30-day Giving Challenge! The challenge is to give something everyday for 30 days, and blog about it (or journal if you're not a blogger). It's still early, but today I gave my children an extra hour of sleep :) and I am thinking of ways to give more throughout the day (I will probably blog about them tomorrow). So to all of those involved with the 30-day giving challenge, I am praying for you! I hope that you all enjoy yourselves, and that we can all grow through this challenge. Happy giving!
Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. ~ 2 Corinthians 9:10-11
