Sisters in Christ ~ Faith ~ November 2017

Hello all! 

Welcome to the November edition of Sisters in Christ! Today, the sweet Faith from I Like That will be joining me for the chat. We'll try not to confuse you with the two Faiths.... ;) 

Hello Faith, and welcome to Chosen Vessels! Have fun introducing yourself to the readers. :D

Hi! I'm a recent homeschool graduate currently taking a gap year, and am a pastor's daughter. I was homeschooled all the way through from kindergarten to 12th grade and am very grateful for having the opportunity to be. I live with my wonderful family on about an acre of land surrounded by farmland and lovely mountain views. I enjoy a variety of things such as photography, cooking and baking, playing the piano, listening to music, writing, reading, biking, taking walks, knitting, and doing various crafty things. I also like learning and trying new things as well. Ever since I was little, I've had the dream to be a writer. I'm currently working on a couple of stories that I hope to publish one day, even if only for myself. And, as the name of this chat would suggest, I'm a devout follower of Christ who desires to please Him in everything I do!

I didn't realize you're a pastor's daughter as well! :) What inspired you to start a blog? 

I think it was mostly from reading other blogs, my love for writing, and my mom's encouragement. I had secretly wanted to start a blog for some time before, but hadn't really said anything to my parents about it because I was so busy (and a little behind) with school and other things at the time. So because of that, I thought they might not think it would be the best idea for me to spend so much time keeping up with a silly little blog. But then one day, my mom and I were talking about blogs and she mentioned to me that I should start one and could put my writing and photography and other things like that on there. So I gladly told her that I'd very much like that and got right on it!

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 read a few other blogs before, mostly my friend Olivia's blog, Meanwhile in Rivendell...

How did you find my blog(s)? 

You first commented on my blog, and so that's how I first met you and found your blog here. And I'm so glad you did! I'm so grateful for your friendship. :)

I didn't realize that! I must have found your blog through Olivia's. :) What's your favorite Bible verse, chapter, and book? Why? 

Oh my... how does one pick a favorite Bible verse? There are so many good ones! 

Well, one of my favorite verses at the moment is Philippians 4:6-7. I like this one because whenever I begin to get anxious or worried about something, it helps to remind me that if I just pray to God and focus on Him, trusting in Him to help me, then I'll have the peace of mind and peace of heart that comes from Him.

My favorite chapter might be Psalm 34. There is just so much in this chapter! It's always a real encouraging one to read and reminds me what a great and delivering God our Lord is!

And my favorite book... maybe Ephesians. Or Romans. Or John... John's a great book! Probably one of those three. I love reading in places where Jesus performs miracles and just seeing His compassion for people, and the faith of the people he touched and healed.

What Bible verse(s) have really helped you through some rough times? 

Proverbs 3:25-26 has helped me through a lot rough times; especially during one hard time me and our family went through a couple of years ago. I was really struggling in my faith and felt as far away from God as I'd ever felt before, while smack dab in the middle of that, my mom started having some health issues that were really hard on her as well as all of us. I had read this verse a lot of times before, but it wasn't until one night in the midst of that terrible attack that this verse really stuck out and comforted me a lot. It says, "Do not be afraid of sudden terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes; for the Lord will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being caught."

And that's just one out of countless verses that have helped me through hard times like that.

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

Recently, a man in our church passed away. It's been a while for me since someone so close that we see and talk to regularly has gone on to be with the Lord. While this was a very sad situation, it's reminded me again that Heaven really is a real place, that we really will get to see the man from our church again, and how really important it is to get the Gospel out to the world so that everyone gets a chance to go to there. Of course, I've always been taught and have known Heaven is a real place and that things in this world won't last forever and aren't ultimately important, but I think when this happened, it kind of gave me a reality check and really put things into a new perspective -- helping to remind me that this life here isn't all there is, and that I need to not be wasting so much time on earthly things and spending more time in God's Word and telling others about Him -- and to not concern myself so much with what people might think of me by telling them about Jesus. I'm realizing that saving my pride isn't so nearly as important as helping to save a person from eternal torment... So the Lord's really been working with and teaching me on that recently, and reminding me to not let my normal personality get in the way of what He's calling me to do.

                                                    

Any Bible reading tips? 

Reading your Bible every day is very important. I've come to find that it's not really how much you read, but how you read that makes the most impact. You might have a goal to read a whole chapter one day, but then one verse might really stick out to you and you might feel like you should take time to think and meditate on that particular verse. But if you're so bent on doing it your own way and just trying to complete the chapter so you can move on, then you don't really give the Holy Spirit room to point something out to you and teach you something from what you're reading. Basically, just be open and listen for what God's trying to tell you through His Word whenever you sit down to read your Bible.

Of course, quite often I've slipped up on this as well and have just run through some verses or a chapter out of routine and not really think much about it. I'm working on doing better on this though.

Now for the reading and writing side of things... On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the most), how much of a reader would you consider yourself? What about a writer? 

Probably 7 for reader. It seems like there are times that I go through a phase when I'm just not interested in reading anything at all, and then other times, I suddenly get the urge to want to read anything and everything I can get my hands on! But I think I like reading more than not. Especially children's chapter books. I'd much rather sit down and read through a children's chapter book than a novel written for young adults/adults (though I enjoy those types of books sometimes, too; it pretty much has to be historical fiction for me to be really interested in reading it though).

And for writer, I'd say 9 1/2. I've always enjoyed writing, especially writing stories. It's just always kind of been my thing. But of course, there are many times when writer's block gets in the way... 

Hehe, relatable – on the writer's block. ;) Where's your favorite place to read and/or write? 

I usually enjoy reading and writing either outside or by a window. I always like reading by natural light.

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

Hmm... well, I like Eleanor H. Porter and her book, Pollyanna a lot. I also enjoy Joan Lowery Nixon's writing in her Orphan Train Adventures series. Sid Fleishman is also another favorite of mine. I like his book The Whipping Boy and some of his Mr. McBroom stories; I especially enjoy his writing style in those. 

What are some books that really impacted your young life? 

The Bible would definitely be the number one book that has impacted my life. I really enjoyed the historical American Girl books when I was younger and believe those stories had a great impact on my life as well and also developed my liking for historical fiction even more. Kirsten was one of my favorites, maybe because I felt like I related to her in a way... I so wanted them to make a Kirsten movie, and (low key) I really wished I could have played the part of Kirsten. I actually looked quite a bit like her -- I had long blond hair that I'm sure could have been easily braided into loops and everything! :P But anyway, there were those, and also my mom read aloud to my siblings and I many children's books that impacted me a lot as well such as, Miss Rumphius, Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule, Cranberry Thanksgiving, The Pumpkin Runner, and countless others.

Okiedoke, here's a few random questions for ya. :D If you had to use one word to describe yourself, what would it be? 

Hmm... maybe Dreamer.

Any pet peeves? 

I probably have a lot, but here are just a few: 

-When people put up Christmas lights/decorations before Thanksgiving.

-When you're trying to talk to someone, but they're on their phone the whole time.

-When people don't seem to care or seem oblivious to the fact how messy or untidy they keep things. (Though, I'll admit... ahem... I don't always keep things too spic and span myself, but I'm not oblivious to the fact of it and I care, so that should count for something, right? ...Maybe?.....No?)

Favorite songs? 

A few favorites of mine are Good Good Father by Chris Tomlin, Cable Knit Sweater by The Lads, Shake by MercyMe, Steady by For King & Country, Sunday School Rock, Who's in the House, and Slam by Carman, and Don't Let the Devil Steal Your Joy by Ken Blount.

Thumbs up on Shake... ;) Anything else to add? Goals for the rest of this year or next?

Well, for goals, I'm currently working on writing two stories which I hope to publish someday (as I said at the beginning). One is a novel, and the other more of a children's chapter book type story. I hope to finish the first draft of at least one of these stories by the end of the year. We'll see how that goes. ;) I'm also considering maybe writing homeschool book studies or something like that and possibly starting some sort of business out of that. I enjoy little kids as well and am sort of wanting and looking to get a job involving looking after and/or teaching children sometime in this or next year. Right now, I'm kind of just trying to figure out which route to take with my life and what God really wants me to do, so life's been a little crazy, but really good at the same time, and I know God will show me the right way to go if I just keep on after Him.

That all sounds wonderful!! Blessings to you as you seek to live for Him! <3 

Thank you so much for having me, Faith! I'm so glad we got to have this lovely chat. It was a lot of fun!

Thank you!! :D 

~*~*~ 

Be sure to leave Faith some comments and check out her blog, I Like That. 

I said in my last post that I would be taking a week off while a friend was visiting, but then I ended up not posting the next two weeks either...I honestly don't have an excuse, other than to say that life is often taking me away from here. :P I'll try to post every or every-other week now through the end of the year, but I can't really make that a commitment right now. 

Thanks for reading! 

~Faith 

**Pictures not our own. Borrowed from the Internet.