Introducing .... Shine Like the Son

Yes, I've changed my blog name ... again! I know this is like the 3rd or 4th change I've made, but hopefully this will be a lasting choice. I still feel like my life reflects the song "Just Another Day in Paradise" by Phil Vassar BUT really felt like I wanted the blog title to reflect my faith more. So I've been looking up scriptures and songs and trying to find something that struck me just right. I LOVE Philippians 4:13 and thought about calling the blog 'I can do all things'. But then I came across this image on Pinterest and fell in love...

{image credit: Care to Look} 

We have Psalm 37:4 written on our chalkboard wall right now and it's always been a favorite of mine.

And it's also on the cover of my prayer/Bible study journal ...

 

 But, I also love the rest of it where it talks about how we will 'shine like the dawn, our vindication like the noonday sun'. So I decided on SHINE LIKE THE SON for a new blog title. Sort of adapting the verse and making it SON instead of SUN because I want to shine like the SON - Jesus Christ - in everything I do.

Here is a song by Matt Mahar called Shine Like the Sun - I love the lyrics!

 

Psalm 37:4-6

New International Version (NIV)

⁴ Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

⁵ Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him and he will do this:
⁶ He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
your vindication like the noonday sun.

 

 

I hope that my life reflects the light of Jesus, I pray that I will be joyful and full of SUNshine and also SONshine in everything I do. And i want my blog to reflect that so welcome to the new and improved blog and thanks for stopping in and reading.

 

 

An Award!

Awwww, a sweet blog friend of mine nominated me for a blog award! Amy from The Blessed Mom is a sweet friend who also lives/blogs here in New England. She's a wife and Mama to 2 sweet kiddos. I have enjoyed getting to know her over the past several months.

“A Liebster Blog Award is a fun way to recognize your fellow bloggers and get the word out about how much you love them! It’s specifically for smaller blogs and those of us who are just getting started! Liebster is a German word that means favorite or dearest.”

Part of receiving this award is the joy of passing it on to others! So here are 5 'little' bloggers that I absolutely adore ...

Sarah from In Light of the Truth is a Mom of 3 and stay at home wife. We're like the real life friends who never really met in person! LOL She is friends of many of my mutual friends, but she moved WAAAY out to Nebraska before I got the chance to meet her in person. She has a wonderful way of encouraging us to be present with our kids every day, yet often times will be completely honest about the rough days of parenting, I love that she can keep it real!

Mary from A Productive Endeavor is a real life friend. That just sounds funny, doesn't it? Like I have imaginary-blog world friends! hahaha Anyhow, Mary is also a Mom of 3 and to say she takes JOY in her kiddos is a HUGE understatement. It is a blessing to see how much she ENJOYS her kids, even though as we all know, parenting can be tough. =)

The next 3 are little bloggers that are getting bigger and bigger and bigger lately! So maybe they aren't so little bloggers anymore, but I get the biggest smile on my face when they post new blogs and just love 'em all so much that I HAVE to include them here!

Alicia from La Famille is just so super stinkin' cute. As are her kiddos. You have to see her latest blog where her daughter talks about marrying her Uncle - how cute is that? Alicia loves God and is crafty and I just KNOW we'd be best pals if we lived close by.

Jessica from This Blessed Life is another real life friend. In fact she teaches Piano and music to my kiddos! I love her! She inspires me to eat better, be frugal and love the Lord.

Lora from My Blessed Life is a friend that I WISH was my neighbor! If we were neighbors I can just picture having coffee together, our kids playing, sharing homeschooling tips and just talking for hours. She is a kindred spirit who I really hope I'll get to meet in person one day!

So there you go, my 5 nominees ... I just love the connections I've made with so many lovely women through blogging.

Keeping things in perspective

I read a lot of blogs ... A LOT. Some of the blogs I read are very popular, they have hundreds of followers ... some even have thousands. Sometimes I can get caught up in thinking that these women are 'famous' bloggers, that they are carving out a place in this world because of their popularity. They attend all the blogger conferences, they have all the products made by other popular bloggers, they know each other on a personal level.

Are you following me? Do you know some of the ones I'm speaking of? Many of their buttons are over there on the right hand side of my home page. ----->>>>

But the reason I like to follow their blogs isn't because of their popularity. It isn't because they are creative home decorators, fabulous photographers or amazing 'super-moms'. I read their blogs because these are amazing women who know and love the Lord. Women who don't care whether they have a thousand followers but care more about living and sharing their faith.

One such blogger is Angie Smith from the blog Bring the Rain. She recently attended the Relevant bloggers conference and was sharing her thoughts on her most recent post. I think you should all go read it, it's fabulous and she is just the most real, honest, wonderful person. She is the classic example of a 'famous' blogger who cares nothing of her own popularity. She is married to one of the singers in the Christian band Selah and she is an author too. But she's so down to earth and seems like the most gracious person ever. Her post really encouraged me to keep things in perspective. Many days I allow myself to feel guilty because I haven't blogged enough or kept up with all of this enough. But when I'm busy not-blogging, it means that I'm busy doing my 'real' work - raising my girls, teaching them, being with them, keeping my home, etc. I need to remember this and let go of the guilt and worry. It doesn't matter if I have 2 followers or 200. What matters is what I'm doing for the Lord.


Here is a quote from Angie that really struck a chord with me ... when you're done, hop over and read her full post ... and be blessed!
"We have each been given a gift to be used to further the Kingdom of God. Your worth isn't on the spine of a book or the statistics of your blog. You aren't going to be judged by how many followers you had (As Ann so wonderfully said, "Jesus only had 12 followers..." :) ) or the way you curl your hair. And in this crazy world of blogging, sometimes the most powerful thing we can do is to close the computer. I needed to hear all those words."

Hello out there!!!???

Is anyone still reading my blog?

Anyone?

Beuller ... Beuller ... Beuller????

I know I'm just as guilty of not adding comments to my favorite blogs ... but ya know after say 3 or 4 blog posts with NO comments a girl starts to wonder if there's anyone out there who's still reading!

So stop by and say hi from time to time, let me feel the blog love!

{{Is it this background??? Is it difficult to view or slow to load?? I could go back to using a more simplified one if needed ... }}