Enemies of faith

I got a message of encouragement yesterday at church...which is exactly what I needed to refocus my faith (and revisit my blog).

It was a message on faith and enemies of faith: ignorance, unbelief, fear, doubt and discouragement. I sat there taking notes like I was preparing for an exam and realized just how many times I had let discouragement shake my faith. Whether it was on the day that I needed to finish a spoken word piece for a  show or realizing that nobody is reading the blog post I was so excited about or while watching Say Yes to the Dress wondering why so many of my friends had said their "I do's" and I was still just.....I. My faith was so shaky sometimes that I would ask other people to pray for me because I was struggling just to pray for myself.

But yesterday in two separate instances I was encouraged and reminded that faith is a powerful thing....and discouragement creeps in like a whisper and wipes out your power like a tsunami.

So I'm blogging again. I'm encouraged to keep praying, keep learning, keep growing, keep sharing and keep my faith strong.

What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see. God gave his approval to people in days of old because of their faith. By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God's command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.

(Hebrews 11:1-3 NLT)

...And since it's also Music Monday, enjoy this little ditty by Level 3:16.






~gg~

Santa Claus is here?? (6WS)

The Santa Claus Parade is Today!!

Well, it's officially the holiday season. Halloween is over - which is pretty much the key determinant for Christmas season kick-off in Canada - the malls are playing carols and Santa Claus is coming to my town.....this afternoon.  This also means that Christmas shopping is upon me.

I've got to be honest, I used to love shopping for presents for my family because I knew that they would enjoy receiving gifts picked especially for them.  It was fun to dip into the stores with the money I had earned from my part-time job between Charlie Brown's Christmas special and the large-scale production put on by my church. The shopping took a backseat to baby Jesus and family time and was joy-filled. Nowadays, however, that joy is gone. My family is huge (and growing) and my income is no longer 100% disposable.  Christmas shopping seems to be one of the largest hassles of the holidays and a major financial headache. I've got bills to pay and kids (ok, kid) to feed!!  Here's the shopping list:

2 parents
3 brothers
2 sisters-in-law
7 nieces and nephews (ages 1-13)
1 son (he's 7)
1 for my son's dad (a gift from lil' man)
2 of Lil' man's godparents
2 Secret Santas with different groups of friends plus one at work
and a partridge in a pear tree....

Phew!!!!

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to (a) enjoy the holiday season without getting caught up in the stress of shopping (b) give gifts to everyone without breaking the bank and (c) find a way to balance gift-giving with the true meaning of the season?  I'll be grinning through the parade as I contemplate a second mortgage to make it through to January....

~gg~

Play Six Word Saturday along with Cate at Show My Face. The premise: Describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words. Sounds easy, right? It is....and fun, too!! Click on the button to see what other six words people are putting together.