Hello to all

Hello all! My name is Skylar, Sky for short. I am excited to have joined!

What's Your Spiritual Gift?

Hey! This is a quiz from my Revolve Biblazine that I thought was neat...
Rate yourself from 1 - 10 (1 is Really not me and 10 is definitely me)

1. I'm going to stand up for what I believe even if no one else backs me up or agrees
2. I'm willing to work hard on a project until it is completed and done well
3. I'm usually the leader in a groups
4. I don't spend much money on myself
5. I really love helping people out who have problems, like addictions or diseases
6. I think it is more important to live out what you believe than to know all the technical stuff
7. I love reading the Bible. It is honestly my favorite book.
8. I like telling people about my faith - like talk to them about it.
9. I am pretty good at always remembering to tithe
10. I'm a Trendsetter - I plan for the future and people follow me.
11. It's really important to me that all my friends become strong Christians.
12. I have volunteered to lead some Bible studies at school or church because I love to share what I know about the Bible with others.
13. As long as what I'm doing helps the cause, I really could care less who gets the credit.
14. I get upset when the pastor doesn't address the sins that are obviously going around in our church
15. I'm great at getting people to help out when it comes to charity events or mission trip
16. I try to find ways to save money so I can give more to God
17. I don't mind doing grunt work if it means that God's word will reach more people
18. I want people to become Christians so badly that I will tell them about Jesus even when they don't want to hear about it

Results: (add up your score for each of these-
a) 1 and 14:
b) 2 and 13:
c) 6 and 15:
d) 7 and 12:
e) 9 and 16:
f) 4 and 10:
g) 5 and 17:
h) 8 and 18:
i) 3 and 11:

Whichever groups you got the highest score in is your strongest spiritual gift...

a) Prophecy - Ability to see the influence of evil and warn other Christians
b) Helping - Ability to help without getting any credit
c) Exhortation - Ability to show others practical ways to serve God
d) Teaching - desire to study the Bible and share knowledge with others
e) Giving - desire to give your things for God's work
f) Administration - Ability to manage resources efficiently
g) Showing Mercy - Ability to show comfort and support to someone who needs it
h) Evangelism - Ability to lead unbelievers to Christ
i) Shepherding - ability to lead a group of Christians

Other books.

Though None Go With Me is another good book I read. It is about a girl named Elizabeth who meets one of there new ministers and decides to give her life completely to God and her life turns upside down and she loses almost everyone she loves. Well I am not going to give too much away. But it is a really good book. There is also a movie which oddly enough I think is even better. One of the main themes in from the song "I have decided to follow Jesus" It is the part that says "Though none go with me, I still will follow, no turning back, no turning back." She decides to follow no matter what and doesn't ever turn back and in the end it is all worth it.

Another one is from The Russians Series by Judith Pella and Michael Phillips I think. Well the first one in the series is the best. It is called The Crown and the Crucible. It is about a peasant girl from the Russian countryside and she moves to St. Petersberg to work at the Winter Palace in the kitchen. She ends up being a personal maid. Well I am still not going to give any away but it is a really good book but you have to continue with the second and third and maybe more but those arn't as good. I loved the book.

Do you see the meaning behind Jesus' words?

Hi. As you can tell from the title, I am going to post a verse that has a meaning that is rather hard to see. I had never given the verse much thought, until one day I was flipping through John and my eyes fell on this verse:

John 12:23-24
Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds."

Read it carefully. But not too hard. It may take a few minutes, days, or even years for it to click. It took me a long time...but when I read it that one time, everything just clicked. There is a meaning behind Jesus' words...and it is very cool!
-Ellie

Dana's Valley

Hi I am Addie for those who do not know. But I had a comment I wanted to make and it was taking a while on the comments and I thought i ought to post it. I am going to talk about this book I read and I will others later but I have company coming over soon and may not even have time for this. Well anyway.... I read a book in 7th grade called Dana's Valley. I was looking in the library for a book and I couldn't find one I wanted to read. (I am kind of picky) The librarian came up to me and suggested a book. The library at that time went and still goes to my church and had know me for a while. It was in the corner in the back of the library. I got it and fell in love with it. It starts out kind of slow but after it got going I couldn't stop reading it. It was about a girl named Dana who had a sister about a year younger than her (Erin who narrated the story) and older brother Brett I think, and a young brother named Corey. It starts out when Dana is about 11 or 12 I think. She starts feeling bad so her parents take her to the doctor and they find out that she is sick. I am not going to give too much of it away but it was probably the saddest book I have ever read. It spreads out over 3 or 4 years I think. One thing that makes it really sad it that it is narrated by her sister so you see that side of it and the trouble that they all are going though. Erin has trouble with her faith, Brett starts having some problems, and Corey feels neglected. They all have a struggle but the get through it really with the help of Dana keeping her faith and even growing in her faith. It sort of reminds me of a video we watched in Bible Class once. I don't have the time to really explain the who thing but the lesson was that God picks you up when you are in times of trouble and carries you through the storm. He doesn't make it go away immediately but he helps you and carries you and in the end you grow stronger in your faith. All you have to do is trust in him.

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths strait."
Proverbs 3:5-6
Addie

Random list of GREAT books

Hey, this is just a random list of awesome books everyone should read. What can I say? I am a bookworm. Oh, and the starred books are part of the trilogy, series, or quartet that I listed above them.

The Chronicles of Narnia - by C. S. Lewis
*The Magician's Nephew
*The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
*The Horse and His Boy
*Prince Caspian
*The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
*The Silver Chair
*The Last Battle
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - by J. R. R. Tolkien
*The Fellowship of the Ring
*The Two Towers
*The Return of the King
The Hobbit - by J. R. R. Tolkien
The Door Within Trilogy - by Wayne Thomas Batson
*The Door Within
*The Rise of the Wyrm Lord
*The Last Battle
The Frank Peretti Books - by Frank E. Peretti (duh)
*This Present Darkness
*Piercing the Darkness
*Prophet (reading it right now)
*The Visitation (haven't read that one yet, but it sounds good!)
Hadassah, One Night with the King - by Tommy Tenney (I've heard there's a sequel!)
The Hidden Treasure of Glaston - by Eleanore M. Jewett (not sure if it's by a Christian author, but it's really good anyway, nothing bad in it)
The Linage of Grace Series - by Francine Rivers (I will list only the 2 I've read, even though there are 5 I think)
*Unashamed (about Rahab)
*Unafraid (about Mary-very touching)
The Screwtape Letters - by C. S. Lewis (I would suggest waiting a while to really comprehend it)
Esther & John in the Bible - by authors inspired by God

All of those books I just listed are really good, not bad at all, and many are encouraging spiritually. And they hold your attention to such a degree that you can't stand to put them down. Hope you like reading them. Oh, and The Hidden Treasure of Glaston is set in a monastery, and they search for the Holy Grail, so I am assuming it is Christian...

-Ellie

Flywheel

Last night we watched "Flywheel". It was a great movie. It is about a man, "Jay Auston", who sells used cars for unfair prices and cheats on his customers. When he gives his heart to the Lord, he realizes all the mistakes he has made in his life and tries to fix them, but not everyone liked these changes. He goes through many struggles, but in the end everything is even better than before because he trusted God.
It has a great lesson in having faith in god and trusting him no matter what, and, like I said yesterday, "When God says do something... DO IT!"