Where Did October Go?

I cannot believe that it is nearly the end of October! Life's been crazy for me this last month so I apologize for my lack of blogging.

Anyway, the other day my sister and I watched all of BBC's adaption of North and South for the first time. I must say that I am in love with Mr. Thorton! Mr. Darcy has been demoted from #1 in my mental list of my favorite fictional male characters... at least for now. But, yes, I LOVED the movie North and South and cannot wait to read the book! North and South was a bit more on the dreary side than Pride and Prejudice was but I still enjoyed it. Once I get North and South memorized, I'll be moving on to Emma and then whatever I can find. =) Please feel free to leave suggestions of good Jane Austen / Louisa May Alcott / Elizabeth Gaskell type books that have been made into movies!

Note: I know this post was a little different than all of my previous posts but I needed to do something light-hearted because today was CRAZY! One of my sisters broke her foot and my youngest brother was having trouble breathing earlier. I was crying and praying so much that I was emotionally drained so I needed to relax and get my mind off of all of that for a little while...

~Sarah Elizabeth~

Beautiful for Me

Beautiful for Me (By Nichole Nordeman)
Every girl, young and old
Has to face her own reflection
Twirl around, stare it down
What's the mirror gonna say?
With some luck you'll measure up
But you might not hold a candle to the rest
"Is that your best?" says the mirror to the mess
 But there's a whisper in the noise
And can you hear a little voice?
And He says

Has anybody told you you're beautiful?
You might agree if you could see what I see
'Cause everything about you is incredible
You should have seen Me smile the day that I made you
Beautiful for Me

If it's true, beauty lies in the eye of the beholder
What my life and what's inside
To give Him something to behold
I want a heart's that captivating
I want to hear my Father say

Has anybody told you you're beautiful?
You might agree if you could see what I see
'Cause everything about you is incredible
You should have seen Me smile the day that I made you
Beautiful for Me

Close your eyes, look inside
Let Me see the you that you've been trying hide
Long ago, I made you so very beautiful
So I ought to know
You're beautiful

Has anybody told you you're beautiful?
You might agree if you could see what I see
'Cause everything about you is incredible
You should have seen Me smile the day that I made you
Beautiful, you are so beautiful
Beautiful for Me, so beautiful for Me
Has anybody told you?

Click HERE to watch the Nichole Nordeman / VeggieTales music video for this song!

Christmas!

Okay, so it's not really the Christmas season yet but I always get into it way early. :) My favorite time of the year is November through December. Thanksgiving Day is my favorite actual holiday-day but the Christmas season is my favorite time of year. I love everything about it! The excitement in the air, the decorations, the lights, drinking hot chocolate, watching Christmas movies, baking cookies, eating candy canes, making fudge, the stores constantly busy with shoppers looking to get presents for everyone on their list- what's not to love about all of that? As great and wonderful as all of that is, something is missing. Something great. Perhaps it's the whole purpose of our festivities... Christmas is about us celebrating Jesus' birth but so many times we get so caught up in the celebration and the things that we're "supposed" to be doing that we forget the reason why. As the Christmas season starts to come around once again, no matter if you're like me and are already getting into or if you're dreading it, be sure to keep in mind the reason behind it all. It might just change everything.

One more thing- here's a link to something my pastor posted on his blog last Christmas eve: "A Few Questions on Christmas Eve" Very thought provoking and it goes perfectly with the whole point of my post today. Be sure to check it out!

~Sarah Elizabeth~

A Short Post

Once again I don't have time for a long post...but here are some of my notes from my pastor's sermon about Jesus walking on the water:

You have to get out of the boat (your comfort zone) if you want to experience the supernatural.

If you are going to water-walk, make sure that you are walking towards Jesus.

The minute you take your eyes off of Jesus, you will begin to sink.

(This is from the Sunday evening service.) God will keep everything that you place in His hands; you will lose anything that you keep in yours.

~Sarah Elizabeth~

Time Flies!!!

Wow! Okay, I cannot believe that it's been nearly a week since I've posted! Life's been really busy for me lately so I haven't had that much free time. I would be posting a long post right now but I have to be up early tomorrow so I need to get to bed... I'll try to post tomorrow! Pastor David's sermon yesterday was really good so I have some quotes that I want to put up here (I'd do it now only I don't have my notebook).

~Sarah Elizabeth~

Mr. Right or Mr. Right Now?

In our culture today, pretty much all teenagers are dating and they have a boyfriend or a girlfriend. They get all caught up in the relationship and put so much into it but then, what happens when they've had enough? They break up! Break-ups can cause lots of pain and hurt and "What did I do wrong?" "Am I just not good enough?" type of questions to arise. When you get into and start playing the dating game, you are saying, "God can't bring my husband/wife to me. I have to go find them." As Christian teens, we need to be using the time we have right now to prepare ourselves for marriage not dating every other person that we see. I've heard people say things like, "Dating is practice for marriage because you learn how to be faithful to only one person." Really? So in marriage, when you've had enough or get into an argument, you can just get a divorce (break-up). Yes, you could go that way but God intended marriage to be a life long commitment. At the altar the preacher says, "Till death do you part." but, sadly, most people don't truly mean it deep down. Just look at how many marriages end in divorce. Divorce isn't and never was part of God's plan. If you don't want your marriage to end that way, then don't practice it now with dating! The old saying is "Practice makes perfect!" but really it should be "Practice makes permanent!" Whenever you do something over and over the same exact way, that's way you'll do every time and unless you put extreme effort into changing, you'll automatically do it the way you've done it for so long. So dating is actually practice for divorce- not for a happy, the-way-God-intended-it-to-be marriage. It may seem like you're missing out now by not dating but it will be worth it in the long run!

First Post!

Since this is my first post, it will be a little more boring than my other ones will be. ;) Anyway, I'll tell you a little about myself and about this blog in general.

The name of this blog comes from two places- Proverbs 3:5-6, which say "Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; He's the one who will keep you on track." and also from where I am in my life right now. I'm learning what it means to trust God 100% and let Him have complete control of my life.

I'm a Christian and pretty much everything on here will have something to do with God. I'm still not sure what I want this blog to be exactly so I'll be working things out as I go. I might do some "here's what's up with me" posts but most likely a lot of my posts will be either Scripture verses, Christian song lyrics or notes from my pastor's sermons. So, I hope you all enjoy my new blog!

~Sarah Elizabeth~