Cate the Great

November 23, 2015 ~ Allison ~ Leave a comment

Some beauty for your Monday.

Sunday Song: Thanksgiving #4

November 22, 2015 ~ Allison ~ Leave a comment

Today’s song is perhaps my favorite about Thankfulness…even at the worst of times, on a really bad day (like the one I am currently having), I have so much to thank the Lord for.

He forgives all my sins.
He heals all my diseases.
He redeems my life from the pit.
He crowns me with love and compassion.

He sees me. He knows me. He loves me.

My heart is filled.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/yTpJxPyo3JE?feature=player_embedded

Sunday Song: For Paris

November 15, 2015 ~ Allison ~ Leave a comment

My heart breaks for the pain running rampant all over the world today. I grieve over lives lost due to evil, evil hate.

It’s a cruel place.

But as a child of God, I trust and I know that evil had a beginning and one day it will certainly meet its end…on that day when He makes all things right.

So this Sunday’s song is one for Paris. For everyone crushed by this broken world. Here’s some truth that’s worth being thankful for.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/De9qqohtfWI?feature=player_embedded

As Sure as the Sun (Ellie Holcomb)

There is good news, there is good truth

That you could never change,

No matter what you do

You are loved more than you know

More than you could hope for

After everything you’ve done

As sure as the sun will rise

And takes away the night

His mercy will not end

There is good news, there’s a promise

That no matter where you go

You will never be alone

In the dark, in the doubting

When you can’t feel anything

Oh, His love remains the same

As sure as the sun will rise

And takes away the night

His mercy will not end

Even through the night

Silver stars will shine

Hope of glory’s light

That will wake us once again

As sure as the sun will rise

And takes away the night

As sure as the sun will rise

His mercy will not end

Sunday Song: Thanksgiving #2

November 8, 2015 ~ Allison ~ Leave a comment

Today’s song doesn’t necessarily use words like thankfulness and gratitude, but it is a song of praise.

It beautifully recounts all the reasons we have to sing praise and thank Him.

“All the blessing he deserves poured on my unworthy soul”

https://www.youtube.com/embed/BrZQbGwgmIc?feature=player_embedded

(Please ignore the typos in the video).

Have a blessed Sunday.

Sunday Song: Thanksgiving #1

November 1, 2015 ~ Allison ~ Leave a comment

Here I am….November 1.

It’s the first day in a month that I don’t “have to” blog, but it’s almost become habit and I want to keep going.

I won’t write about truth every day anymore, but I don’t want to forsake it completely, either. I enjoyed the Sunday Song posts because music has always been one of the biggest influences in my life.

I plan to continue the Sunday Song series at least through the end of 2015. The months of November and December lend themselves easily to this. In the weeks leading about to Thanksgiving, I will share songs that cultivate thankfulness. In December my focus will turn to Advent in preparation for Christmas. Please join me.

Today’s song is one I’ve known my whole life. It must be over thirty years old. I clearly remember sitting on the floor of our house group while my dad led the group in worship. I couldn’t have been more than four years old. I had recently recovered from pneumonia and while the adults around me sang this song, I realized for the first time that I had something to thank God for. He’d healed me. I remember feeling elated and finally part of the “club” although I still didn’t know what it meant.

Let the weak say, “I am strong”
Let the poor say, “I am rich”
Because of what the Lord has done for us
Give thanks…

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Bk_7wUR2Wdg?feature=player_embedded

18 Inches

October 31, 2015 ~ Allison ~ Leave a comment

18 inches.

That is the length of the journey from our heads to our hearts. In Tommy Spaulding’s latest release, The Heart-Led Leader.

Now that I am in this educational leadership program, the topic of leadership is one I see everywhere. I picked this up because I was intrigued by the tag “How Living and Leading from the Heart Will Change Your Organization and Your Life”. I want to be a great leader and hoped to find some immediately applicable tips.

In the book, Spaulding uses stories of great leaders he’s met to describe 18 qualities of a heart-led leader (one for each inch).

All in all, I found the book to be inspiring but a little bit fluffy. It’s certainly good reading for someone who hopes to be a better leader, or for already great leaders looking for some renewed motivation.

***I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for this review.***

What I Learned in October & a Long-Overdue Reading Update

October 31, 2015 ~ Allison ~ Leave a comment

Another month has come and gone!

Today I am linking up with Emily P. Freeman’s “What We Learned” series.

Here’s some of what I’ve learned in October.

1. I can do anything for a month.

I just finished my first successful “Write 31 Days” challenge. I didn’t write the most beautiful posts, but I set a goal and accomplished it. I’m hoping this means I can translate it to the next 30 day challenge I’ve set for myself — No SPEND November starts tomorrow!

2. My mom knows me well.

She introduced me to my new favorite game app — Word Bubbles. She told me I would love it….and I do 🙂

3. Fitbits can be great accountability tools.

In my September post I mentioned I need accountability in order to be successful, especially when it comes to healthy eating and fitness. I got a Fitbit about 5 weeks ago and it’s really helped me step it up in terms of exercise (pun totally intended). My favorite feature are the friend challenges – I don’t need to win them, but it helps to have encouragement and a little competition. We’re all in this together.

And for what I’ve read in the past two months:

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
A Million Little Ways: Uncovering the Art You Were Made to Live by Emily Freeman
Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling
Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman
The Heart Led Leader by Tommy Spaulding

Clearly my reading has slowed a bit now that I am in this principal training program, but this still makes 80 books for the year.

To Love the Truth Day 31: Truth For All the World

October 31, 2015January 26, 2016 ~ Allison ~ Leave a comment

Today is the final day of this series – I can’t believe I made it! October has flown by…though at times it seemed to drag on, especially the past week after I ran out of outlined posts. I’m proud of myself for sticking with this.

For my last post I want to share an element of Truth I’ve experienced this month. It’s something I’ve known on an intellectual level and believed for years, but I’ve now come to understand it in new ways.

The Gospel is for everyone. Truth is not just universal, it’s personal for everyone in the world. Truth transcends distance and culture and life circumstances. It has power and the ability to transform all of us.

During this series visits to my blog have increased. I hoped this would happen — I mean, I did link up to several other blogs. What I didn’t expect, however, is that the vast majority of my new readers are some other countries. To those of you who have joined me, thank you. I hope my rambling has pointed you toward Him.

To Love the Truth Day 30: Sharing the Truth

October 30, 2015January 26, 2016 ~ Allison ~ Leave a comment

I’m a witness, not the judge.

A motivational speaker recently visited the school division in which I work, and he repeated this line many times. It wasn’t in reference to the gospel of Truth, but it stuck with me because it fits so well.

For the last thirty days, I’ve been sharing the Truth not as the judge, but as a witness. I’ve presented my experience. I’ve told you what I’ve seen, what I’ve heard, and how it’s changing me. This is my testimony.

It’s a story, not a sermon.
It’s an example, not a manual.

This is my story of how the Truth has transformed my life, how I’ve learned to walk in Truth.

That is how we are to share the Truth with outsiders. Honestly, openly, not apologetically but not judgmentally either. We are witnesses. We are to speak as those with personal experience. It’s not head knowledge and an intellectual exercise anymore. It’s a deeply personal story of what’s happened to me, and I will tell it softly but with confidence.

I’m His witness….

Thanks for reading my testimony.

To Love the Truth Day 29: Truth in Community

October 29, 2015January 26, 2016 ~ Allison ~ Leave a comment

Today’s strategy is one I know is important, but I must be honest and say this is a hard one for me to live out. As I’ve mentioned a few times on this blog, I have a lot of anxiety surrounding church involvement. It’s hard for me to feel as if I fit in and I tend to keep my relationships with church friends at a surface level.

In order to learn to love the truth and walk in truth, we must surround ourselves with a community that will tell us the truth –a community that will challenge us to live out truth and remind us of truth as a means of comfort.

Daily Bible reading and a personal quiet time are helpful but not sufficient. In fact, as my pastor pointed out on Sunday, the quiet time phenomenon is a new one. For most of church history, Bible study has been a communal experience. We need each other.

It’s so important that the New Testament alone uses the word “together” about 100 times.

Do not give up meeting together…

Raise your voices together…

Strive together…

Work together for the truth…

And this, the example of the early church:

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

This is why we are to do this thing together: so that others will see and hear the truth and be saved.

It’s not just beneficial to unbelievers, however. There is great value for those who are already saved.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

It’s in community that we are able to speak the truth to each other. When we heed those words and learn from them we will grow to become mature in Christ. We will not become deceived but will be confident that we know the truth….together.

This Cloudy Glass

…catching glimpses till I see Him face to face…

Cate the Great

Sunday Song: Thanksgiving #4

Sunday Song: For Paris

Sunday Song: Thanksgiving #2

Sunday Song: Thanksgiving #1

18 Inches

What I Learned in October & a Long-Overdue Reading Update

To Love the Truth Day 31: Truth For All the World

To Love the Truth Day 30: Sharing the Truth

To Love the Truth Day 29: Truth in Community