The Sunshine Blogger Award

As I have been nominated for this by two separate and really great bloggers, I am combining my responses into one.

Thank you, Stu. https://stubaby777.wordpress.com/  You are so honest and upbeat and encouraging, I look forward to reading you. You have a gift for using what God gives you (whether perceived as positive or negative), learning from it, and giving God the glory.

Thank you, Amy. https://anewlife256599767.wordpress.com/  Yours is another I look forward to. You have an honest sincerity, a full and storied background, and a fascinating way with words. God is using you mightily.

I clicked a lot and this site is the closest I could find to the origin of the Sunshine Blogger award: https://www.colemanconcierge.com/sunshine-blogger-award/. Here are the rules as listed on that site:

Once nominated, if you choose to accept, write a post where you:

• Thank the person who nominated you for the Sunshine Award and link back to their blog
• Answer the questions set by the person who nominated you
• Nominate other blogs and give them questions to answer
• Notify your nominees through social media or commenting on their blog
• List the “rules” and display a Sunshine Award logo in your post

 

After “stuing” over Stu’s nomination 😉, here are my answers to his questions:

1. How do you spread rays of sunshine (hope) outside of your blog?

I have other social media sites, and I post positive stuff. In person, I try to live by my first in-depth Bible book when I became a Christian, James: I watch my tongue.

2. What is one cliché you cannot stand?

Probably not a cliché, per se, but it’s when people end their sentences / ideas / thoughts with, “so…”

3. What does the term God’s got this mean to you?

He wins. He’s got me and everyone else and everything else under His perfect design and control. He’s amazing that way, because He also allows us free will. How does He do it all???

4. Out of your hardest trial or struggle, what is the most valued thing you took from that experience?

God’s got this. lol

5. If you could go back and live in any time period, which one would you choose and why?

Firstly, I’d love to walk with Jesus in physical person. But, almost any time period would be fascinating for so many reasons.

6. What is your favorite board game?

I just don’t do those… haven’t for a long time. Maybe I need to take some up?

7. If you could cure one addiction to where no one could relapse, which one would it be?

Gluttony in any form is destructive; I can’t choose. I am astonished, however, at what we are eating any more, and the havoc it wreaks in our physical and mental lives.

8. If you have a relationship with Jesus, what do you cherish the most about it?

I love how personal and intimate He is, coupled with His perfect love, wisdom, kindness, gentleness, omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence…

9. If your life were to be made into a movie, what genre would it be?

Christian fiction

10. What made you choose the title for your blog?

I wrote a book. In my large imagination, I never imagined I would write a book. God gave the whole thing to me, and I just typed it out. (“ooooooo!” type, type “Really? Oh, okay.” Tap tap tap. “Oh, my!” clickety-click.) The character’s name is Maggie Tiggles.

11. If you were to create your own blog award, what would the name of the award be and what would be its description?

Glory to God Blogger, for those who lift up the glory of our God; I would have to nominate pretty well everyone I read.

Amy, my testimony:

I was Ms Independence from the time I emerged from crippling adolescence until shortly after God grabbed me. I was raised in the Catholic faith until my parents left the church when I was about ten. I always believed strongly in God, and knew that “Jesus died on the cross to save me from my sins.” My parents instilled in me a strong moral code. I barreled through life, certain that I was doing everything the right way. I didn’t do things that I thought were wrong/sin. If I wanted to do something that might cross the line, I would simply re-file in my mind, and make it okay. Such was the case when, still single at age 25, I wanted a baby. I just made it okay. When my son was almost two years old, I thought that I should probably start some kind of religious training so that he would understand who God was. I started watching Sunday morning preachers. Some of them told me I was a sinner. My reply: I am not! I don’t do things that I consider sin.

At that time, God moved me out of my current home (He flooded it) to the town where one of my students lived. Unbeknownst to me, his family had been praying for me ever since I became his teacher. They invited me to church the first Sunday after I moved. With my new “I need to teach my son religion” mindset, I went along.

This was a friendly church! The second Sunday I went, I was amazed that they remembered my name and my son’s name – that meant a lot to me. (I found out later that they had all been praying for me for quite a while.)

The pastor gave a sermon series on the book of James, and challenged us to read that book every night for a month. I took the challenge.

At Easter time, I somehow managed, through church and invitations, to attend about four services between Thursday and Sunday. Sunday night I had an almost audible conversation with God.

God: “Kathy, I want all of you.”

Me: “God, I know you are God. You created me and all things. You are in Heaven, and Jesus died on the cross to save me from my sins, so I can go to Heaven. I like my life the way it is. I like making my own decisions, and I like how everything has been going.”

God: “Don’t you trust me?”

Me: ~long pause~ “You’ve got me there.” ~longer pause~ “Okay, God, You are Lord of my life.”

Shortly thereafter, I was handed some severe trials. Having lived a pretty Pollyanna life, I would never have known where to turn had not God grabbed hold of me. I surely would have slipped under the surface. No, my life was not peaches and roses. I have a past, and there are so many memories that bring deep regret. But the peace and joy that God gives me as I am obedient to Him far surpass my expectations and understanding. He is my deepest delight.

 

These bloggers bring sunshine to my heart and soul, and I nominate them for the Sunshine Blogger Award:

Brenda https://becominghistapestry.com/author/becominghistapestry/

Rotimi Elijah  https://realtimelove.wordpress.com/

https://140characterchristian.com/

V Ramasamy https://ramasamy59.wordpress.com/

Julie Dibbles https://juliedibblewrites.wordpress.com/

Maria, are you accepting nominations yet? https://pilgrimsprogressrevisted.com/

David https://damarministries1991.wordpress.com/ (even though I know you’ve already been nominated, I’m seconding)

Should you choose to accept, please write on this topic:

Discuss a major change in your life. How did God bring it about? What did you do in response? What went through your mind? What was the outcome?