I am Ordinary

I am Ordinary.

Nothing special.

I'm overweight.

Quiet.

Short.

I am Ordinary.

I read books.

I write books.

I geek out over books.

I am Ordinary.

I waste time on the computer.

I wisely use the computer.

I dream away on the computer.

I am Ordinary.

I am quick to judge.

I am quick to ignore.

I am quick to grudge.

I am Ordinary.

But in Jesus Christ,

And by Jesus Christ,

And through Jesus Christ,

I am ExtraOrdinary

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come; The old has gone, the new is here!

2 Corinthians 5:16-17

God is Good

Time and time again, God surprises us.

As in.

WHAM.

There.

The surprise.

Completely unexpected.

Here's the surprise:

I'm going to OYAN Summer Workshop 2014!

You heard me.

Unless something else is dropped into my lap, that's what I'm going to this June.

I'm right now bouncing and swaying and crying.

What with college payments and scholarship search's/essay writing, I never expected to be able to afford it.

Now.

Oh beautiful Lord above!

Story:

An anonymous donor had given a good friend of mine from England the money to pay for an OYANer to go this year to the summer workshop.

When she asked me if I was going on Facebook and I told her I couldn't for financial reasons, she told me about that and offered to pay for my registration, meals, etc.

Right now I'm waiting on information from my sister so I can finish up registering.

God is so good!

God is so good!

He's so good to me!

God Bless,

SDG

Joy

Jesus Son of God - Chris Tomlin & Christy Nockels - Passion 2012 - White...

The Cross is Enough.

There is no way around it.

This week is week three of a new
semester and God won't let me be.

Again and again He's been shouting at
me “I'm enough”.

The Cross is Enough

He's blessed me by suddenly giving me a
grant that I didn't even know I could get that is worth $2,900.

He's blessed me with a week of in depth
Light showing me who I am through His Words and works.

He's blessed me with seeing my family
for the first time in almost three weeks through a video chat.

The Cross is Enough.

I'm worried about whether I can afford
to come back to college next semester.

I'm worried about my family possibly
moving twelve+ hours away.

I'm worried for some of my siblings
because they don't personally know Christ.

The Cross is Enough.

Trials will come and make me stronger.

The years ahead will be
filled to the brim with them.

I have the perfect map and help in God's Word.

The Cross is Enough.

God Bless

SDG

Joy

Some Days. . .

Some days I feel like an idiot.

That's when I have to restrain myself from face-palming every few minutes because of something I forgot, or said, or did. 

Today is one of those days.

I forgot to order the textbook for one of my classes, and I'll need it by next Tuesday.

And the textbook is out of print.

So I'm going to have to have quite the chase looking for it before hand.

On top of that I'm taking a block class this week, with up to 5 (maybe 6?) hours in the classroom PER DAY.

Yup.

I'm going to be so worn out by Saturday. . .

Well, what I'm learning I'm loving, so that's something to look forward too at least!

As an added bonus, it's very important to know as well!

God is Good, ALL the Time!

God Bless,

SDG

Joy 

The Road Goes Every On and On. . .

The Road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.

~J. R. R. Tolkien, The Road Goes Ever On and On

My life feels like this song right now.

My first semester in college is done.

I now have seven left to go.

After that, I do not know.

It's times like these when I sit back and stare in amazement at everything before me and behind.

Who am I, Lord?

Who am I that You have shown me the next path to take for now?

Who am I that You have directed me this far?

Who am I, Lord?

Who am I?

All that I know, is that I'm a creation of the Creature, and must follow what He tells me to do.

For now, I'm to follow the path of a student.

In four years, He'll show me the next path.

I'll just have to wait until then.

Still round the corner there may wait

A new road or a secret gate,

And though I oft have passed them by,

A day will come at last when I

Shall take the hidden paths that run

West of the Moon, East of the Sun.

~J. R. R. Tolkien, A Walking Song

God Bless

SDG

Joy

Mirror

There is something about being a writer that makes you stop and think now and then.

~

Everything that you write, everything that goes on paper, mirrors something in you.

~

I don't know about you, but that frightens me.

I don't know how many people actually look at my writing blog, at my posts about my story ideas or my current writing in progress, but what I'm writing isn't necessarily happily 'Ever After' stuff.

So if every story that I've written/come-up-with, what is it telling me about myself?

Each story points to something already in the theme, so in a way I can say that the theme is pointing out something about myself (my current WIP's theme is basically making decisions).

What about each character?

Don't I come through in each character?

Well, yes and no.

Everyone has a little bit of the Myers-Briggs different personalities; the difference is in how much it comes out. 

Even so, I can tell you out and out that I've never had any trauma from being in a war zone, I haven't dealt with parental abuse, and I have not ever been hospitalized. 

Each of those affects my characters differently, and I have to learn about all of that before I can make it realistic.
(In one of my stories, I'll have to look into turning guys down. Yeah, I haven't had to deal with that yet either. . .)

But even so, my characters and I still share the same similarities.

We are flawed.

I'll never be perfect, and neither will they.

In that way at least, they will (or at least should) touch reality.

Maybe that's how I'm coming through in my characters, as seeing this real world (and the people in it) as continually flawed.

The more I learn at college, the more I see/notice things coming through in my writing.

In a way, my stories are walking me through things that I'm having a hard time understanding or taking in. 

Wow.
I'm pretty sure I rambled there, sorry!

Thanks for reading all of that, even though it doesn't make much sense!

God Bless,
SDG
Joy

Be Our Guest!

I have no idea why I'm so horrible at keeping up an every day blog, and yet am getting pretty good with keeping a writing blog.

Tears of a Hawke

Anyways.

I've been learning tons.

Tomorrow I have a few tests, so technicly I'm going over my clause introductory words (that, which, who, how, when, after, etc.) and reviewing my ancient history notes (Rome, Carthage, China, India, all that good stuff!). 

I might try doing a post some time of all that I've learned in my history class alone! 

I might even try doing it with my other classes too. :)

Church has been interesting.

I would say great, except for one reason:

On Communion Sundays I'm usually late to work.

Like today.

Other than that damper, I've been learning lots!

Sunday School is about the names of God (Today's was El Shaddai), and during the Service we're going through the book of Mark (today was chapter 10).

Work has been pretty good.

Tonight I'm actually rather hyper.

I even started to hum/mutter-lyrics-beneath-my-breath Be Our Guest from Beauty and the Beast.

Now I have a great yearning to watch that movie again!

My writing has been stop and go.

I might try to turn my winter break into a NaNoWriMo type of thing, even though it isn't really a whole month.

For more updates, look at my writing blog!

I really should be studying more. . . 

And reading my Bible. . . 

I have to finish reading the Gospel of Luke before Thursday!

And I also have to read Hebrews and 1 Peter. . .

Yup, I'm returning to reading!

God Bless

SDG

Joy