It's OK and Challenge Days 20 & 21

It's OK...

...to take a break from blogging (sometimes it just happens)

...to feel bad about being gone and not sharing my challenge post

...to get a new phone

...and it NOT be an iPhone HA

{side story: ok so I had to get a new phone bc my other one busted and the glass was coming off, it was getting REALLY hot thus making it turn itself off...after warning me it was getting too hot..like the feel of it wasnt enough ha.  ANYWAYS I had been wanting a new iPhone (and only because everything else I have like my computer and iPad/iPod etc are also apple product) but my carrier does't carry them. I had thought of switching but we still had a few months left in our contract.  So when my phone broke I really didn't have much choice.  The hubby just broke his too HA

BUT I am fine with who we have now anyways.  AND I LOVE my new phone still.

The battery life is AMAZING!!  I got the razr Maxx and let me tell y'all last night it had been like 30 hours since I had charged it and I still had like 27% battery life.  

I guess it doesn't take much to excite me but in my opinion this is worth sharing ha}

...to have a pink camouflage  case for your phone

...to fall in love with all the cases I shared last night

{I ended up sticking with the my original choice of the 2nd chevron design}

...the two cases are completely opposites...I LOVE THEM BOTH ha

{I am just a girl who loves a variety of things =)}

...to be  head over heels in love with your hubby

...to be proud of your hubby

...to wish I was able to be his fishing partner more

...to have a birthday "wish list"

...I am in denial I turn 30 next week

...my hubby has a tournament on my birthday 

{How awesome would that be if he won on my birthday....I would totally be ok with that!!}

...I just realized the warranty on my sunglasses expired like TWO days ago and they are broke =(

...to share more than one day in a challenge in one post

{day 20: inspiring}

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{day 21: forgiveness}

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I am so thankful I am forgiven!!  How amazing is it to just think about all our sins being forgiven!!

On the other hand I have to remind myself to forgive others as Christ forgives me.

This is not always easy....but then again it only make me realize that much more how great our God is , that He can so easily forgive me for my sins.

I'm Baaaaaack

YAY I am back!!  I have really missed everyone.  Again I want to thank y'all for all the SWEET comments and messages.  It has meant so much to me.
I was really stressing about not being here sharing my post.
I was worried you would think differently of me or be upset.
I did not want anyone to think I was being "flaky"
Just so much happened all at once.
I was still doing my challenges each day the best I could.  Some days I did have to domore than one to catch up etc. I just did not have time to post. :( So SORRY
I got sick (felt TERRIBLE)  I am feeling better now ...still have a bad cough but that is NOTHING compared to what I did have.
I even had to miss class one night and leave church one Sunday morning after I taught Sunday school.
Other than being sick life was just super busy...Some good and some I could of done without!!
On a positive note I was able to spend some time with the hubby last week and it was great!!
I feel really blessed and just want to take this time to thank God for all his blessings in my life!!!
God is SO GOOD!!!
I hope to be back to normal now...as normal as that can be, HA
I am looking forward to getting caught up reading your blogs this week as well.
Thank you all so much and as always
BE BLESSED
..............................................................................
NOW....for me to get caught up with sharing my daily challenges

{Days 8, 10, 11, and 16 for me are the same verse I used in day 7}

Jeremiah 29:11-13

"For I know the plans I have for you.

Declares the Lord

Plans to prosper you and not to harm you.

Plans to give you hope and a future.

Then you will call upon me

and come and pray to me,

and I will listen to you.

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

This verse has been so important in life.  It helped me get through so much and therefore I repeat it probably the most. I use it as a daily reminder along with Philippians 4:13

"I can do all things through CHRIST who give me strength."

These verses are not only my all time favorites but are also my life verses.  

I am so thankful for these words and love turning to them daily. They truly give me so much joy and excitement.  To me this has provided me with endless hope.  

{Day 9}

Jeremiah 31:13

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{DAY 12}

I always loved this picture of my hubby and daughter praying.  

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{Day 13}
I have been studying out of the book of Timothy for my Sunday school lessons.
I have really enjoyed this book.
There are several passages from 1 Timothy I like
but this was one I liked and thought we could all relate too.

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{Day 14}

Probably my favorite books from the Old Testament are Psalms, Proverbs, and Jeremiah.
I tend to turn to one of the books most in the Old Testament.

Besides my life verse from Jeremiah another one I really like is:

Via

{Day 15}

For my New Testament verse I am going to pick the verse I have used for my blog.
obviously I love this verse :)

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{Day 17}

I love a good faith filled quote
This is probably why I have a whole board on my Pinterest just for them :)

Here is one of my MANY favorites

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{Day 18}

This verse also means a lot to me.  I LOVE it :)
It was used at my wedding and one of the first scriptures I memorized as a child as well.

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Another one when i think of LOVE I think of John 3:16.  What an amazing LOVE that is to die for OUR sins and to give us everlasting life.  There is NO greater love then the love our Father has for US.
"The Greatest is LOVE"

{Day 19}

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It is good to be back :)

Challenge up to date

Hello Friends!!  

I am SO SORRY I have been MIA this week.  It has just been one of those weeks.  

I have wrote down my verse each day but just not had the time to actually post. 

 I have missed y'all. 

I hope you will forgive me for my absence in not only my blog but my challenge postings...Pretty please....Forgive me.  :)

Ok so for day 5: Fear

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I have wanted to use this verse just about everyday of the challenge so far BUT keep saving it for the next day, ha.  It is one of my (MANY) all time favorites.  And Sunday when my pastor used it for his sermon I was so excited!! 

I really think these last few days (for my anyways) have all really been connected with each other.  

I seem to relate with them all at the same time.  One triggers the other, etc.  

So it has been very helpful for me to get into HIS word and remind myself to trust HIM.  

I also want to Thank everyone who has linked up so far ( and if you haven't it is NOT too late. You can start anytime..either on day one or just jump in wherever you want ) All of your post and scriptures have been such an  encouragement.  

Day 6: Repentance

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I couldn't decide on just one for day 5 BUT I loved these two pins I saw on Pinterest.  How awesome is it that our slates are in fact wiped clean.  We follow such an awesome God who forgives us!!

Day 7: Helped you through something

As I shared in my testimony this was a verse that really helped me get through many of my battles. 

 I still repeat this one to myself all the time. 

 I am so thankful for this verse!!!

 Via

I hope you all have a blessed day!  I look forward to catching up and reading all your post as well!!

Join the Challenge

{Day 3 and Day 4}

Good Monday Morning! 

 I hope everyone had a blessed weekend.  

I don't know about everyone else, BUT I am really enjoying the Faith Challenge.  It is only day 4 and I have already been so encouraged by reading everyones post and the scriptures/quotes they have chosen.  Thank you all for participating and all the sweet comments. 

Sorry I did not get a chance to get my verse up yesterday.  I bet I didn't spend all but {maybe} 30 minutes online yesterday.  

 I really liked day 3 and 4 challenges of anxiety and worry.  I feel the 2 go hand in hand for me.  One usually follows the other.  So getting into HIS word for my post as well as reading your choices has been a huge inspiration.   I know I am not suppose to worry and I have really been working on not worrying as much.  This was actually one of my goals for 2013.  Hop on over to Just a Small Town Girl ~ Blog to see what I have to share today about "Day 4~Worry"

Day 3 ~ Anxiety

Day 4 ~ Worry

I hope y'all have a blessed Monday! 

 {Remember} 

"This is the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."

Psalm 118 :24

He is my Strength

Remember yesterday....I was Stressed!
{Thank you ALL so much for all the kind words and encouragement. }

But I have great news.  God gives me strength!! 

 Every time I get stressed, depressed, sad, or mad etc He is always there lifting me up

 He gives me strength.  

I know I can do anything with Him.

  Philippians 4:13 says, " I can do ALL things through Him who gives me strength." 

This is not only of my favorite verses but I love how encouraging it is!  

No matter what, God gives us all the strength we need..and with Him all things all possible!!

Be sure and check out the other blogs in the challenge.

I promise you will be blessed!

Join us in the challenge   

Stressed

Is it just me or has it just been one of those days  weeks.  It seems I am allowing stress to not only enter my life but stay as long as it likes.  I am letting the smallest and most pity things get me all worked up.  I    am tired but I can't sleep.  I cannot focus or get motivated for anything.  This is stress taking its toll on me.  It is the devil trying to dull my shine.  It is me trying to rely on myself and my own understanding.

Today is day one of the challenge and what a coincidence the topic is stressed.  I am always so amazed how God works.  You see when I created this challenge I just randomly put each topic with a day...who would of ever known that I would be struggling with stress so much on today....God did!

  He knew I would be feeling overwhelmed and letting stress get the best of me.  He knew I would need this challenge for this day to lift me back up.  And then there is the devil,  he sees how excited I am about this challenge and spreading Gods love and His word.  The devil is trying to tear me down.  He wants me to fail, but I am NOT going to allow him to dull my shine.

I am going to keep shining to glorify my Heavenly Father.  

So while I may feel tempted to let my stress bring me down I am choosing God to bring me back up.  I am going to trust in Him with all my heart.  I know He has great plans for me and He is always with me.  I will not lean on my own understanding but will submit to Him.  

{I feel better already!!!!}

Join the Challenge

<center> a href="http://southernsoulshining.blogspot.com/2013/01/30-day-challenge.html"><br><img src="http://i1252.photobucket.com/albums/hh561/kcatlogan/30daychallenge_zps0ee57faa.jpg" /></a></center> Tomorrow is the day I will start the 30 Day Scripture/Faith Challenge.  {click here for details}  I am so excited for those of you that are joining us.   I cannot wait to flood our Blogs, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc with Gods word.   I can only image how many are going to be inspired and encouraged.   If you have not linked up all your links be sure and do so that we can all follow each other.  (feel free to link up any and/or all ways you are going to share)  I have created the button {above} for you to share.   If you are sharing on twitter or instagram lets use hashtag #faithchallenge.   Just have fun with this and I pray we are all inspired by this challenge.   May it draw us closer to God and strengthen our faith.   I pray that the challenge will also help others who see and/or read His words.  

{30 Day Challenge}

Are you up for a challenge?  Are you interested in getting into HIS word and sharing HIS love?

Well then I am SO EXCITED to announce and share this challenge that I have came up with.  I came up with this idea after seeing several "photo a day" challenges ...and failing miserably when I would try to do them. I wanted to come up with a challenge I would actually be able to do yet still be a challenge.  I also wanted one others could and hopefully will join me with.  I wanted a challenge that was exactly that...a challenge.  And as I have shared so many times I love God and hope to always be growing in my faith. I want to encourage others and share Gods Love with everyone.  So, I have came up with this!  Starting February 1st I (and hopefully you) will start sharing a scripture.  It can be as simple as ending your post with a scripture that matches the day or you can make a post around your verse or faithful quote.  If you create your own image lets get them pinned so we can also share His love on pinterest as well. If you have instagram or twitter share it there too! You can link up your blog,  or whatever works best for you. Link one or link them all. You can share it daily or weekly...again what works best for you.  There are no right or wrong ways here.  Just have fun and get full of faith :)

  I would like to add I just want God to have all the glory.  While I came up with this challenge He still deserves all the credit.  I just hope that we can get into His word and share it with others.  May we be challenges as well as inspired and encouraged.  

So each day starting with day 1 there is a brief title for that days challenge.  Please share either a verse or faith quote that you relate to that day.  For example day 1 is stressed....you can share a verse that helps you when you are stressed or talks about how to handle stress.  For the Old/New Testament ones, just pick a verse anywhere from that section. 

 Whatever comes to mind or works for you.  If you have a favorite quote that goes with that days challenge you may also use it.  I just want to challenge myself to use as much scripture as I can and when I do use quotes that they are "Godly" ones.  As stated earlier you can simply write our your challenge or create an image/"pin."

Another option is to share an image already made or you had pinned from pinterest.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

{One more fun side note:  I have picked to start this challenge on Feb. 1st so that it will finish up on my 30th birthday.  I thought what a better way yo celebrate my big "30" than a 30 day challenge and even better have all of us getting into the word :)  And while I have picked to start my challenge on Feb. 1 and end on my birthday.  Please feel free to start before or after me!!}

To God be the Glory