Sisters in Christ ~ Blessing Counter ~ October 2016

Hey everyone! This is the seventh part of Sisters in Christ. I can hardly believe it! Are you enjoying this as much as I am? :D 

This month, our special guest is Blessing Counter from Counting Your Blessing One by One. Be sure to check out her blog! :) (Cool fact here, Blessing and I are in the same online ASL class this year! We had no idea until the first week of class. How awesome is that?! XD) 

Welcome to the blog, Blessing! Go ahead and introduce yourself. :) 

I’m an ordinary 16 year old, country girl with an extraordinary view on life :) I’m a Christian saved by grace, a daughter of the King. I also have a great love for books, cameras, and music, and I am homeschooled with my 6 other siblings. Oh yeah, and my friends consider me an English nerd ;P 

Since we're here because we met through blogging, let's chat about that. What inspired you to start a blog? 

Well, my desire to start a blog first started after I discovered that amazing thing called photography. Pictures started collecting and I really wanted to do something with it :) I also wanted to be able to share about my family, though it ended up in a slightly disguised way ;) 

*whispers* And her photography is AMAZING. ;)

Did you read other blogs before starting your own, or was starting a blog what thrust you into this amazing world we call The Blogosphere? ;) 

Yes, I most certainly did! I kinda crept into the Blogosphere to be honest. Didn’t comment much, but I was certainly there reading the posts ;) 

I think I did that some too. ;) How did you find my blog(s)? 

I think it was after you commented on one of my posts. Had a habit of clicking on people’s names after they commented; so when I clicked on yours, I found that you had a story blog and voila! found ‘em :D 

And I'm so glad you did! Since we are sister in Christ, what's your favorite Bible verse, chapter, and book? Why? 

My favourite Bible verse, also the most commonly remembered, is John 3:16. I’ve known this verse pretty much ever since I could talk. But it was only a few years ago that I was able to more fully grasp exactly what the verse was saying. This verse isn’t just something little children recite for church or camp. It tells how our great and caring Father sent His one and only Son for us. Humans stained in sin and unworthy of such a precious gift. God’s love for us is so special, and we can’t just take advantage of it. 

Favourite chapter…hmmm, probably Romans 5. After the first four chapters in Romans describing the fallen state of man, it’s a comfort to read of God’s gift of justification and salvation. 

And favourite book. Either Ruth, Esther, or Revelation. Reading the story of those two women has always been inspirational to me, and reading about Jesus’ return - well, who doesn’t like reading about that? :) 

What Bible verses have really helped you through some rough times? 

Philippians 4:4 ~ Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 

Psalm 27:1 ~ The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid? 

Romans 3:23-24 ~ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. (emphasis added. A lot of the time, when people say Romans 3:23, they forget to add verse 24, which I think is one of the most important parts of this small passage!) 

Wow. I know I've read Romans 3:24 sometime, but I'd always paid more attention to verse 23! :) 

What is one event in your life that really strengthened your Christian walk? 

Oh, there are so many events that have happened! Some small, some big, but all equally important in my Christian walk. One of the more recent ones was only two, three weeks ago. It was only a couple weeks before camp started and I had become very stressed out about the way things were going. My family and I had developed a rather nasty cough, I couldn’t hear out of one ear, and though it was time, I hadn’t had - uh - something. There was going to be a water day at camp and I didn’t want to miss it because of - well, you girls know what I mean *blushes* Anyway, I started praying really hard that God would make everything alright by the time camp rolled around. As the time drew nearer, I was getting even more desperate. But then during one of my ‘prayers’ it suddenly hit me what I was doing. I was praying for things that I wanted, not what God might want. I was treating my Heavenly Father, who gave HIS ONLY SON to save me from my sins, as some fairy godmother or genie who was subject to my every wish! And I was abusing the special privilege that God had given me to be able to talk to Him. Oh, the guilt that washed over me! *shudders*. It was horrible. I repented and from then on, my prayers, though still far from perfect, changed for the better. They were no longer solely focused on just myself, and my words changed from “You have to make everything work out!” to “If it’s your will, Lord” 

So there! That’s one event that really made me do a 180 in my walk with Jesus. I still struggle with it, but I’m glad that God showed me the wrong in what I was doing there :) 

Absolutely beautiful. :) Thanks for sharing! (And yes, I totally get it. ;))

Any Bible reading tips? 

Dedicate this time to God. Even if your day is crammed full of things to do, sit yourself down in the morning, open your Bible and just read. Even if it’s just a chapter, still concentrate on what you’re reading. Try not to let your mind wander away to your to-do list, or friends, or other books. You’ll still have time later on for those things. For the moment, just concentrate on the Bible and it’s message for you. It’s special. Don’t waste it. (and I’m only saying this because I am sooo guilty of it myself! It’s what I’ve been working on the past few months :)) 

Speaking of other books, let's move on to reading/writing. On a scale of 1-10, how much of a reader would you consider yourself? 

What about a writer? 

A reader, 10. Definitely. A writer …. well, maybe a 5? Even a 4, maybe. Though I enjoy writing, I don’t do it as often as I read. 

(But when she does write it's SO GOOD. ;)) 

Where's your favorite place to read and/or write? 

My bed! It’s not the best place for my spine and eyes - but it IS the most comfortable. 

What's your favorite author(s)? Favorite books by them? 

NO. You did not just ask that. Faith!!!! At least you made it plural xD Louisa May Alcott, Rebekah Morris, Enid Blyton, Elisabeth Elliot, C.S. Lewis, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Melanie Dickerson….and others ;) Their books? An Old-Fashioned Girl, Eight Cousins, Little Women, Little Men; TCR, Gift from the Storm, Graham Quartet and the Mysterious Stranger; Famous Five and Secret Seven, Through Gates of Splendour, Passion and Purity; The Chronicles of Narnia; Little House series; The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest, The Golden Braid, The Healer’s Apprentice. 

Really, this list could go on waaayyy longer, but I’ll spare you all ;) 

I recognize some of those – so great! 

What are some books that really impacted your young life? 

Probably George Mueller, Amy Carmichael, Corrie ten Boom, Jim Elliot, Gladys Aylward (Christian Heroes: Then and Now) And of course, the Bible! The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe helped me understand the salvation story better, and the Little House series, though it may not have impacted me per se, probably did help shape my personality ;) 

Let's do a few random questions before we have to depart... :P If you had to use one word to describe yourself, what would it be? 

Ummm….. thoughtful? And I don’t mean just thinking about others, I mean like thinking about pretty much everything! Thinking about a book, thinking about what that person said, thinking about what to do, thinking about people, just lots of thinking ;) 

I would say you're thoughtful in either sense of the word. :)

Any pet peeves? 

When people consider comic books as reading. ‘Cause really, in my opinion, it ain’t!!!! 

Oh yes, and inconsistent authors. It gets annoying when a girl starts out with golden hair and then at the end of the book she all of a sudden has dark brown hair! Or when a boy has his eighteenth birthday, and then in the very next book it starts out as “Jeff, though only seventeen, had been made a sergeant.” *sigh* 

Haha, same for me! Inconsistencies in books drive me INSANE. XD

Favorite songs? 

Uh, yeah, probably not going to be able to list them all here xD But I’ll give you a ‘few’: Come With Me, Heaven, Sadie (The Willis Clan), We Are the Reason (Avalon), How Can It Be, Light of the World, Loyal (Lauren Daigle), Set the World on Fire, You, The Lost Get Found (Britt Nicole), My Lighthouse (Rend Collective), Hope in Front of Me (Danny Gokey), and Blessings (Laura Story). 

Anything else to add? Goals for this year? 

Well, I actually don’t have a lot of goals this year. Just one, really :) 

Survive Grade 11. I may or may not have bitten off more than I can chew :P This year, I’ve got British Literature, Chemistry, ASL, Fiddle, Piano, Baking, Careers, and very possibly Gr. 12 Math and Biology. So. We’ll have to see what happens ;) 

And something I’m REALLY looking forward to is meeting my new baby brother or sister! Only a few more months to go!!!! :D 

Best of luck with school! Aww, yes, new sibling! <3

Thank you so much for having me, Faith! I really enjoyed doing this, and you’re genius to have come up with such an amazing link-up! ;) 

Thank you for joining us, Blessing!! :D 

~*~*~

Everyone, be sure to check out out Blessing's blog and come back next month for our chat with Rebekah Eddy from Rebekah's Remarks and Simply Stories. :)

Blessings! 

~Faith

**All photos from Pinterest.