SNOW! SNOW! SNOW!

It's snowing here!!

I'm so excited!

We live in the south, so it's a little unexpected to have this much  snow.

The last time I can remember snow sticking was the first year we moved here, and that was in 1999.

Would you all please pray for safety for my dad and Cason?

They are on the road going to Spartanburg for Cason's SIXTH South Carolina state swim meet!

I'm so proud of that boy!

I just got off the phone with my dad a few minutes ago and he said it looked like a blizzard, and it's white everywhere.

I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

Hope everyone is having a blessed week.

For I Am Not Ashamed... Or Am I?

Romans 1:16

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Although I would never say I'm ashamed of Jesus, sometimes the things I don't say or tell people about myself really show that I am ashamed.

For example, I used to babysit for a family with 4 young children  and these kids could watch movies I can't watch.

When the mom would bring home newly rented movies to her very excited children, it would put me in an awkward position.

Instead of telling the mom of the family that, out of conviction to live a pure life, I didn't want to watch Twlight or Nights in Rodanthe, I would just avoid the subject and play games with the kids.

Now, looking back on it, I wish I would have said something.

 I know they like and respect me, and it's an opportunity I missed to share my faith with them. I feel I probably could have had more influence. For example, I did share my family's beliefs on not dating and how I'm trusting my parents and God in that whole process. They were so very impressed and very interested. I really wish I hadn't held back in other areas.

Really, in a way, it's selfish not to share it all. It's me being more worried about how they might look and think of me, and that's not what I should be worried about.

 Instead of looking for loop holes to escape these conversastions, I should've been more concerned about their salvation and eternal life, and I should have been looking for natural ways to bring it up.

I'm always saying how I love this family, but if I really did love and care for them, I should've taken every opportunity to share the gospel with them even if it was just through being willing to talk about  the movies they watch that I won't watch.

It would definitely be worth it to me to have a five minute uncomfortable talk and maybe reach these people, and honor God in doing so?

In alot of my dad's sermons lately, he's made the point that if you don't feel awkward in this world sometime, at least, you've probably comformed to and really are apart of it.

My prayer for the new year is that I will not be ashamed of the gospel.

Can any of you think of ways you want to be more bold in sharing your faith in Jesus in the coming year?
If so I would love to hear!

• Books 'n Blessings •

I love it when God blesses me in little ways. I'm speaking of the  kind of blessing I wouldn't have known I was missing if He just never blessed me with it at all. 

Today we went by Trident Tech to sign-up for my three classes I'm going to be taking as dual credit.

First of all I'm just going to let you all know that I'm still home schooled. 

Although, I am going to be taking two classes every Saturday and one class online. 

My dad is actually going to be taking me to school, and he's going to be standing guard over me there, and I'm perfectly content and happy with him protecting me. He is going to sit outside my classes and have a quiet time and prepare for his sermons. Works out perfectly.

Anyway, after we finished talking with the helpful guidance counseler, he then told us we should head on over to Trident's bookstore to get the books I'll need.

I knew the books were not cheap, but I did't know how much... they were a lot. 

We're talking like $165 for my English 101 book, and I don't remember how much the Computer 101 book was, but it was even more!

Dad and I were looking around and realizing how everything was really going to add up. While we were looking and talking with someone who worked in the bookstore a 24-year-old-ish girl standing close by overheard us talking. When the lady who was helping my dad and I pointed dad to another section I was left still looking through what would very soon be my English 101 book. The 23-year-old-ish girl came up to me and asked, "Did you say you were taking Psychology 201?" and I told her I was and she then pulled out, from her bag, one of the books I would need for the PSY 201 class and she said "I took this class last semester and I tried to sell it back to the bookstore, but they didn't want it. So would you like it?" I told her how extremely thankful I was and now I have one of my books for Psychology! 

Isn't that a blessing?

And I didn't even pray that some random girl would pull the exact Psychology book out of her purse and hand it to me.

God knows our needs even if we don't tell Him, and he always wants us to give the glory to Him for the good things that happen in in our lives.

A lot of times I forget who provides me with good things in my life.... it's always  God!

I'm going to be trying harder and harder to give God glory for everything good.

Actually, I'm also striving hard to even thank God for the not so good times too because I know He puts me through hardship, so He can shape me into His image. 

So let me ask,

has God blessed you lately in anyway?

If so, then will you please share it?

Isaiah 25

  O LORD, you are my God;

       I will exalt you and praise your name,

       for in perfect faithfulness

       you have done marvelous things,

       things planned long ago.

•Papa•

My grandpa is going to be having a procedure done withen the next few weeks. He's in his 80's and he has a 90% blockage in his neck. Would y'all please all pray for him?

This is Nona Klare and Papa. He takes his grandchildern "driving" around his cow pasture. He actually still wants me to drive with him whenever we visit. He won't let me go any faster than 2 mph, and he'll put it in gear 2 so that's the fastest I could go... he still tells me to slow down. I don't actually sit in his lap anymore though. HAHA I can't make myself tell him thatit's not as fun as it was when I was 11. I still go with him because I love him, but not because of the excitment. =) He's so sweet. He's recently been walking in Hartwell GA, where he lives, and when he meets someone, he'll share the gospel and hand them one of his gideon bibles. He's such a good man.

•Fixat'n My Eyes On God•

Most every night, or at least my dad tries to do it most every night, we have family worship. Last night's bible passage was especially helpful in my everyday life. I love it when I hear those verses that apply so well. I guess all scripture is kinda like that, but there are always those verses that come at the perfect time. My dad was reading Psalm 28, and it was a prayer from David. My dad was explaining it to all of us and he was saying if we fixate our hearts on daily life and not on God, then we will always be going from happy to sad, happy to sad. If we focus on God, and all that we have because of God, then why should we really ever have a reason to be unhappy? Focusing on God makes us stable. When my dad was reading it to us, I was thinking, "Gosh, life would be so much easier if I were unwavering!" I'm not a particularly unhappy person ,but as we all do... I think, we get in those moods or have moments. If I'm ever in one of those moods it's usually because somethings not going my way, and I'm not focusing on God. I'm focusing on something going on around me instead. There's probably something that I want to happen or something I wish didn't happy, and it's not happening my way.

This morning in my quiet time one of my prayers was that I would fixate my eyes on God and not what's going on around me. I was put to the test today. I know most of you have met my precious little 7 year-old sister Kamryn, who at the moment has a bunch of bubble wrap and is popping it right here beside me and it  seems particularly loud. Little miss Kamryn isn't always very easy to deal with and this morning, at about 8:00am., I decided to go for a longer-ish run, and Kamryn, "REALLY REALLY wanted to come!" so I let her. I wanted her to come too... so I thought! ;D  I could tell, from the beginning, that the 3 miles that were ahead of me were going to  seem a little longer than just 3 miles. HAHA! The entire time Kamryn was yelling at me to run faster so we could get to the park, and she was laughing at me because my face was red from being hot. She was also trying to throw her sweater on me, and remember I was HOT, while I was running. She has a sweater because she has a basket on her bike and she brought it "just in case" it got cold, but between you and me... I think she brought it because she wanted to fill her empty basket. haha! Well, anyway it was a very long 3 miles. I was thinking the entire time about that bible verse and how I just need to stay happy, but wishing God could have made this... a litlllllllle easier. hehehe. If I had indulged in focusing on "daily life" I probably would have shoved her into her little basket, along with her un-needed sweater and on into the woods. Instead I used it as a somewhat easy opportunity to be a blessing to her and to practice fixating on God and correcting her sweetly. Anyway, I got through the run just fine... but for future reference, I'll only bring Kamryn if it's a little shorter run, and if I run 3 miles again I'll eat more that just a yogurt for breafeast.

Well, Hope everyone is having a blessed day so far!

Karis

Proverbs 3: 5-8

  Trust in the LORD with all your heart,

   and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways  acknowledge him,

   and he will make straight your paths.

Be not wise in your own eyes;

   fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.

It will be healing to your flesh

   and refreshment to your bones.

Proverbs 2: 2-5

Turning your ear to wisdom

       and applying your heart to understanding,

 and if you call out for insight

       and cry aloud for understanding,

and if you look for it as for silver

       and search for it as for hidden treasure,

then you will understand the fear of the LORD

       and find the knowledge of God.