Time flies! It's the holidays!

Well, I have not posted anything for over a month! It is now the first of December! Christmas is around the corner. What are your upcoming plans for the holidays? How have you been, my readers?

Since I last posted, Hurricane Sandy came through and destroyed most of the East Coast. There has been much damage here in Jersey. We were safe, thank God, but I have a few friends who were affected. I would appreciate prayer for them. There are so many people who were affected and lost so much and many lost everything. It's a time for Christians to step up and help others. Don't just read about it or watch the news. Prayer is always good, but sometime, we need to get up and do something for others. God is faithful!


Thanksgiving arrived with full force. We had a full house: nine of us around the table! It was enough, believe me! But it was a great time! Two days before Thanksgiving however, my family and others from our church put together and delivered our Thanksgiving baskets. We filled up boxes with food for the holiday, including a turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and pies, and delivered it to families in our church and in the area to people who were suffering financially. It was such a great blessing to us to be able to help them at this time.

Our Thanksgiving, as I said, was great! We had the works: turkey, rice dressing, stuffing, sweet potatoes, veggies, cranberries, pies, cake, cookies, ice cream, etc! After the majority of our company left, we had a number of teenagers and young adults at the house to have some desserts with us, play some games, and just be together at the holidays!

Two friends slept over from Thanksgiving and we went shopping on Black Friday! Unlike the people who were on line at 3am, we slept then went to the mall around 10. It was busy and crowded, but not too bad. We got a lot of Christmas shopping done! It's always more fun to do things around the holidays with other people than by yourself. At least that's my opinion.

The majority of my Christmas shopping is done!!! So happy! Aside from ordering a few things here and there, I have all my presents done! Now I just have to wrap them all... the joys of the season!

Well, I promise to post soon about Christmas!

Merry Christmas! ~Abby

Need Prayer? (Read through it first to understand)

The following is rant. Please bear with me.

 

So here is my problem with people. Why do they have to be so down all the time? They talk about how terrible their jobs are, how they hate people, how they don't have people to celebrate things with, etc. They won't smile, laugh, sing, or just plain get excited! It aggravates me! But it then also reminds me how sad their lives really are. I believe that they only reason they are like that is because they don't have the Joy of Jesus like I do. I mean, let's face it: if you don't have Christ living inside of you, what would make you happy? It certainly would not be the things going on in this world today. Just watch the news- how depressing! I refrain from watching the news as much as possible.

If you haven't figured it out already, I am a professing believer of Jesus Christ and I am not ashamed of that fact! I will not conform to this world. I will stand for my Savior. I will not back down. Let me get back to my main point.

People in this world make me sad. I feel bad for them. I can't imagine my life without having that sacred relationship with God. I can talk to Him when I need to, I worship Him because I know He is worthy, I can know that He is with me at all times. How can people go through this life without that assurance? Things get thrown at us that, many times, we can't control- death of friends and family, loss of a job, failed marriage, etc. What I can't understand is people who go through this kind of stuff without having the Lord there for them. He gives guidance, wisdom, hope, and peace. Has anyone figured this out? Can anyone give me an answer?

Thanks for bearing with me. I hope that if anyone is reading this and they are going through that type of a situation, please remember that there is someone who is there for you. All you need to do is turn your head up and ask Him for His amazing help. And if you just need pray, leave your name in the comments and any specifics you want to leave (you don't have to) and please know that I will be praying for you and your situation!

Blessings to you in Jesus Christ.

Abby

Random thoughts...

        I wrote this on the train on Wednesday night but I had no way to post it. I hope you enjoy and I will be posting something about my trip, with some pictures, once I can!

 

          Today on the train going home, I saw two clouds. One was a vibrant, bright, and rich orange color, from the opposite sunset. Quite close to it was a dark, stormy, dreary cloud. They both had these pieces, ends if you will, that almost touched. It looked as if two fingers were reaching, stretching to touch. It reminded me of that beautiful painting on the Sistine Chapel in Italy; perhaps you know about what I’m speaking about. In this unforgettable painting on the ceiling, there is one scene that, I consider the most cherished and valued. God is extending His arm, His fingers trying to seize ours. The man, however, is not so eager: his arm is slightly up and reaching, but not as desperate; he doesn’t see it as precious, what he could have.

           I recalled from this simple illustration how the Lord desires to have a relationship with us as His children and also, of how many times we have neglected and ignored His pleas to become closer. The Lord continues to reach out to us even if we ignore Him and His calling. May we become more sensitive to His calling in our lives, and strive to accomplish what He desires us to. 

See you soon!

~Abby

Quickly

Just a quick update- vacation with the family is going great! I am so glad to be seeing old friends and making new ones! I am missing some others :( Having a wonderful time and I will be setting up my journailsm blog hopefully this week!!!
Just wanted to do a quick little update!
Longer posts later!
Abby

Update! - Growth & Upcoming Announcements!

So, I haven't been on here since May. It has been so crazy! I have started working on a lot of projects, started working on my Journalism degree. :) I am super excited for this new path! I would love to become a travel journalist! To begin on that journey, I'll be starting a journalism blog in the next few days to chronicle different trips that I take, places I go, people I meet, and just to practice my writing more. So I will post a link to that blog once I have it all set up and I begin to post on it.

I have been really absent from this site for a while. The summer was SUPER nuts! I went to camp for almost a month- that was great! I met a few interesting people and learned so much about myself and how I need God so much more! He has been so good to me lately. I feel so close to Him and I can't help but worship and praise Him with everything I do! I have been cleaning out my life of things that I know He doesn't want there anymore. It's a slow, long, and at times, hard, but I feel like I am becoming a stronger Christian and more confident in myself as I begin to find myself and who I am supposed to be in Christ.

My church had Vacation Bible School in August- that was a success! We have a few new people coming to church that I hungry for God to become real in their lives.

A woman in my church, Sis Pat. and I went this past Saturday to visit some of the kids from Bible School and some others that we have been missing from church. Driving around the town, we didn't talk to a lot of them, but we left them flyers and just prayed for them. We have a dear family in the church who is really going through a hard time. Financially, they are struggling, and they have a lot of other things going on in their lives. So right now, if you, my reader, don't mind, please say a quick prayer for them? It would be a blessing to them, and to me.

I think that's it. I'll be posting information on the new journalism blog as soon as I get it all set up.

God Bless,
Abby