Greetings dear friends! I hope this finds each of you very, very well! I am well. Oh, God is so good friends; sometimes life just seems to overwhelm but in the moments of distress, loneliness, and fear let us remember

"The LORD [is] my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him." Ps. 28:7

Something that I've been pondering o'er today is how distracted I can get. Especially when it comes to Christ and His will for my life. Most of you know that I believe in (and love) modesty and purity and therefore, I try to portray that in my dress. But sometimes I get distracted from my purpose--I continue wearing my modest dress or skirt but my heart becomes so impure. It becomes fascinated with worldly thoughts, discontent with its place in the world and stained by impurities; simply put, it loses its First Love while focusing inward. And I have been doing that lately. I am so thankful that we have a God who knows our every weakness and is willing to forgive when we come in repentance. A God who can erase guilt and free us from an impure heart. Truly,  

"O taste and see that the LORD [is] good: blessed [is] the man [that] trusteth in him." Psalm 34:8

The video below is one I was recently introduced to. It has been a huge blessing to me and I hope it will be to you too!  

My dear sister and I will be going with some sisters in our church to a women's conference this weekend. If you are able, keep the conference in your prayers that Christ may be glorified!

Congratulations!

Dear friends! Greetings! I am so excited to announce the blessed winner from my giveaway. But first, I would like to tell each of you Thank You So Much for signing up and making this fun. :o) It is really neat for me to get to know each of you better and also to meet some of you for the first time. Lord willing, I hope to stop by my new vistitor's blogs soon and also catch up on the blogging world which I have been missing.
And so, for the news you all have been waiting for, our winner is. . . .

Miss Shannon from A Bright Light in a Dark World!

Hurray! :o) Shannon, I am so glad you won and I really hope you enjoy this little lunch tote. I should have written it earlier, this tote keeps cold items cold and hot items hot but it doesn't do well holding ice. (I hope that is okay!) Please email me at authentic_virtue@yahoo.com with your address and I will soon be sending it your way!

Friends, I heartily encourage you to visit Shannon's blog. I believe it was one of the first blogs I began following and I can honestly say that it is a great encouragement to me. I know it will also be a bit of light for you too! :o)

Once again, thank you all for joining in on this. I had so much fun! May the LORD richly bless each of you today. With much love from your sister in Christ,