Sunday, March 27, 2011

All that I Am

I am. . .
Loved, not because I have a husband or love.
Beautiful, not because my mirror tells me so.
Princess, not because my earthly father is a king.
Pure, not because I am perfect.
Powerful, not because I am strong.
hydrangea-graphicsfairy008purpsm

No, rather I am beautiful because Jesus finds me “all glorious within.” Psalms 45:13
I am loved because He first loved me. 1 John 4:19
I am a princess because I am a daughter of the LORD of LORDs and King of Kings. Revelations 17:14
I am pure because my sins, the most vile and stain worthy, have been by the redeeming work of Christ. 1 Corinthians 6:11
I am powerful because the Spirit of God lives in me. 2 Timothy 1:7
I am free not because I have won a battle or bravely ripped my chains away. No, I am free because Jesus is my Savior and He is victorious o’re sin and the grave. 1 Corinthians 15:57
Praise God for being the Author and Finisher of my Faith!

Friday, March 25, 2011

Come one, Call all . . . and Enter my Giveaway!

Hello! I am very excited about this give-away and I hope that you will be too! Maybe you may remember my mentioning Proverbs 31, the very cute line of purses, totes, and other goodies my Momma is selling? Well, the giveaway is a very cute lunch tote from Proverbs 31.

Isn't it cute? You could even carry it as a purse (I think!).

(Its inside is lined in foil so it will help keep your hot food hot and your cold food cold! :)

To Enter:
 Leave a comment on this post. (1 entry)

Extra Entries:
Post about the giveaway on your blog. (2 entries)

If you decide to do both entries please leave two seperate comments. Thank you!

This giveaway will end on April 8th, two weeks away! If the Lord wills, I hope to announce the winner on Saturday April 9th.


Also, I have some embarrassing blog housekeeping to do. Do you remember my Guessing Game Giveaway? If not, please look here.  I asked you to guess the photo and to email me your answer. Well, Laura correctly guessed that it was an airplane tray, yet for some reason I never emailed Laura to tell her she won! I am so sorry! So, if you are Laura and you know you guessed the photo to be an airplane tray please email me at authentic_virtue@yahoo.com. I would love to give you your well deserved and over due gift which is a lovely doily I found at an antique store. And Laura, I am so sorry for being so unkind and thoughtless in never responding to you!

May the Lord bless you my dear friends!

Welcome to our Home

Hello friends! I finally have pictures of our new home! God is so good; we have been blessed far beyond want we could even imagine in getting this house (I think!) and I hope to glorify Christ as we settle into this house and make it a home. *Before you begin, know that I have put many photos . . . maybe too many for you to enjoy at one sitting. :)  Also, thank you for patiently waiting for me!

Moving Day!
We we so blessed to have four men come and help us move. God was so good in meeting our needs far more abundantly than we expected!

My family after our first moving day! Tired and dirty but happy! :)

Welcome to our home!
A long picture of our dining room, kitchen, and living room (from left to right).
To the right of the kitchen you walk into the hallway which has a side door (the door we will use most often). To the left of the hallway is the laundry room/pantry, bathroom, and a bedroom. To the right is a coat closet and the master bedroom. One of our good (and talented!) friends made the arch; isn't it beautiful?
Bathroom
Laundry room/pantry
Bedroom

Welcome to Allie's garden! :o)

A walk o'er the estate. :o)
A peep across the pond. I've named it Olive Lake. Olive because it is often an olive green color and Lake because it seems so big to me! :o)


An old cup from the past owners burn area. I thought it was pretty!
And here I am trying to take a photo of myself! :o)

Thank you all for sticking in there and viewing the photos! :o) I loved going outside and seeing God's creation. I hope you enjoyed it too!

Also, I have a innate love for home names. Remember the March family from Little Women?  Their lovely home was called the Orchard House. After seeing a little of what our home looks like maybe you have a suggestion for our new homestead? I would love to hear your suggestions!

Thank you again for reading! With love,

Thursday, March 24, 2011

The Deceitfulness of Sin

Taken from graphicsfairy.blogspot.com.
Thank you! :)
Greetings in the saving name of Jesus! I just began a one year Bible reading plan and I'm starting in Genesis. Genesis, particularly the creation story, is one of my favorite Bible passages. I love learning of how God created this world, of how He thought that "it was good," of where He first placed man, and how He created Adam and then Eve. I also enjoy reading that God knew "It is not good that the man should be alone," but that he needed an help-meet. I love learning of my specific purpose of being a woman.

I also catch a glimpse of God's true and sacrificial love while dealing with the deceitfulness of sin. Oh, dear Adam and Eve, caught in the moment of pleasing God or pleasing self. Sometimes we can be tempted to think that we would never fall for Satan's trick, yet, I propose that we do every day. My Bible's profile note on Eve reads, "Eve was approached by Satan in the Garden of Eden, where she and Adam lived. He questioned her contentment. How could she be happy when she was not allowed to eat from one of the fruit trees? Satan helped Eve shift her focus from all that God had done and given to the one thing he had withheld. And Eve was willing to accept Satan's viewpoint without checking with God." Oh, how many times have I myself fallen for the old trick of discontentment?! Far too many, unfortunately. My Bible also has this really neat chart which I would like to share with you. 

"Satan's Plan"
Doubt Make you question God's Word and his goodness
Discouragement Makes you look at your problems rather than at God
Diversion Makes the wrong things seem attractive so that you will want them more than the right things
Defeat Makes you feel like a failure so that you don't even try
Delay Makes you put off doing something so that it never gets done

Now, of course, this is just a chart but it really helps me see some of the lies I have been believing lately. Are any of you like me? I often get stuck in my Christian life (mostly due to sin); instead of looking to the mercy and cross of Jesus I look inward--and looking inward only makes me depressed. Then, once again, instead of looking to Jesus I recount my failures which in turn makes me even more depressed and ineffective in the kingdom of God. Ah, what an ugly cycle. Dear friends, if any of you are like me, let us turn to Jesus. Let's not allow our feelings of defeat and laziness to postpone our repentance and walk with Christ. Instead, let us tell Jesus our problems, our struggles--He already knows them any ways! :o) Instead of walking around like senseless mummies naming the name of Christ, let us walk in the light and life Jesus gives! Let us live in the reality of the Living God, Jehovah!   

God bless you as you go throughout your week! With much love from your sister in Christ,


P.S. Photos of the house are coming! :o)

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Greetings friends! I hope this finds you all very very well in our Lord! I am so thankful because we are in our new home and have finally finished packing/moving out of our old one. Truly, the Lord is faithful in keeping us together and by meeting our needs through various friends! Hopefully, :) I shall have pictures up soon. But until then I thought I would leave you with Psalms 145. This Psalm has been a real blessing to me lately and I hope it is to you too!



1I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever.
 2Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever.
 3Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.
 4One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.
 5I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works.
 6And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness.
 7They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness.
 8The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.
 9The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.
 10All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee.
 11They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power;
 12To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom.
 13Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.
 14The LORD upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.
 15The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season.
 16Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.
 17The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.
 18The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.
 19He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.
 20The LORD preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy.
 My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.

Have a blessed day friends! And remember, "Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever."
In Christ's love,

                                                               

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Please be Patient with Me!

A sweet picture from last spring! :) Soon, Lord willing,
we will have photos from this year!
Greetings friends! I hope this finds each of you very well and rejoicing in the hope within you (Christ!). Ah . . . it has been nearly a month since I have last written and I am very sorry! Unfortunately,  I will be away even longer because . . . we are moving! :) At this moment we are busy (especially dear Momma) with packing. By God's grace, we hope to be into our new house by the 15th--10 days! And so I will leave you to your sanctified and capable imaginations as you picture us--some going to school, some working (and working some more), some packing, and soon,
some painting. Yes, we are a very busy bunch. :) But we are blessed. During this time we were able to visit with my dear grandparents! It was so nice to see Grandma and Grandpa up--especially since Grandpa turned seventy! It is such a blessing to look at past generations and know that because of the godly choices they made I now have a goodly heritage.


"The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant [places]; yea, I have a goodly heritage" Psalms 16:6
"Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I [am] the LORD" Leviticus 19:32

Yes, I am blessed indeed. Lord willing, I hope to be visiting you all soon. Hopefully, when I return I will be able to begin my giveaway. But until then, I'll just have to keep you in suspense. :) Also, I hope to put some more pictures as the house progresses. Daddy has been working soo hard!
"Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord [be] with you all." 2 Thessalonians 3:16

May the LORD bless you, dear friends!
                                                                   
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