NovelSisters

watching, reading, and writing stories

Dec 17

Tis the Season

by lydiamhill

Girl, Plait, Person, Hair, Cold, Coffee, Smile, Winter

Image Source: https://pixabay.com/en/girl-plait-person-hair-cold-570556/

The holidays can be a blur of activity no matter what you are celebrating. It seems like time speeds up and the amount of commitments do too, so that you have less time to do more things. This year I’m adding my brother’s wedding to the craziness of my Christmas season.But something my soon to be sister-in-law said the other day has stuck with me. “We’re trying to find joy in the midst of busyness.” Instead of looking at the long list of to-dos and getting overwhelmed, she is trying to find joy in each task. I think this attitude is applicable to more than just wedding craziness, but can and should be applied in the holiday season too.

It’s so easy to get wrapped up in all the details: parties, presents, dinners, decorations, traveling, and whatever else your holiday includes. These things can crowd out what’s really important.

So here are a few things that are really important about this season, at least to me. Your list may differ, but I would encourage you to figure out what they are, and try to focus on them this season.

Christmas, Children, Holiday, Child, Happy, Xmas, Girl

Image Source: https://pixabay.com/en/christmas-children-holiday-child-1078274/

1. Family. Even if I don’t get my sister/brother/parents the perfect gift, we’re still family, and we still love each other. I want to focus more on spending time with my family while we’re together and enjoying them. We tell jokes together, watch funny movies, and play board games and those memories have been more precious to me than any gift I’ve received. So I don’t want to miss out on spending time with my family this year, and showing them how much I love them, through the time I spend with them.

Baby, Bethlehem, Bible, Christ, Christmas, Crib, Faith

Image Source: https://pixabay.com/en/baby-bethlehem-bible-christ-21990/

2. Christ. To me, Christmas isn’t Christmas without Christ. The whole reason I have hope, joy, peace, life, love, or anything good, is because of God. He showed his love for me, by sending Jesus into this broken and messed up world. He experienced all the heartaches of this place, and He made a way for me to be saved from it. He showed the greatest love by dying in my place, taking my punishment, and being separated from the Father. So now, I don’t have to. His precious gift of Himself, is what Christmas is all about. And if I forget that, I forget what’s most important.

 

Love, All, Space, Fly, 3D, Star, Font, Red

Image Source: https://pixabay.com/en/love-all-space-fly-3d-star-font-209900/

3. Love. This really stems from my other important things. Christ’s love for me is the reason I can love my family, even when they disappoint me, or love a friend even when they get on my nerves. God’s love reached out to His enemies, and that love, working in me, should reach out to strangers, outcasts, even enemies. I’ve heard that love is the most powerful thing in the world, and when it comes from God, I’d say that sounds pretty accurate. God’s love changes everything. It’s changed my life, and it is still changing this world.

So there’s my list of important things for this crazy season. I’m going to try to focus on loving others, including my family, from an attitude of thankfulness for how Christ has loved me. And I’m pretty sure that will help me have joy instead of stress this year. I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and enjoy the holidays too.

Christian Life

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Nov 24

Thankful for Hardships

by lydiamhill

Pumpkin, Orange, Grass, Autumn, Halloween, Harvest

Image Source: https://pixabay.com/en/pumpkin-orange-grass-autumn-1004979/

In case you didn’t know, I’m doing several posts this month about being grateful or thankful or whatever you want to call it, in honor of Thanksgiving. I’ve already talked about family and friends, and I think that’s the sort of thing that comes to most people’s minds when they are trying to be thankful. But I’ve also been relearning recently that as a Christian I should be thankful for the hard things too.

I started reading in James this morning and he starts off his letter telling Christians to be joyful in hardships because it produces perseverance. And yesterday my Mom got up in front of my church, along with several other members, and thanked God for the difficulties our family has faced and how it’s grown her spiritually. Even my Dad thanked God for problems and how they force us to rely on Him. I also just finished reading Christy, a wonderful book by Catherine Marshall. I really loved one of the characters, Ms. Alice, and how she lived out her faith. Even with all of the baggage in her life, she was able to use it to become more able to help those around her. Reading about her made me desire to mature in Christ and be able to do the same kind of things.

But unfortunately, recently I’ve found myself complaining about the busyness and craziness of my life. I don’t want to do that, so this is one way I’m trying to live out being thankful, even for the hard stuff.

So here are a few hard things, that I’m thankful for:

1. I’m thankful that when I was a kid, I was left out, excluded, and didn’t have many friends.

That experience affected me, and it’s helped me love others, especially the people around me who are excluded now. If I had never experienced that hurt, I wouldn’t care for others that feel it too. It also helps me to appreciate all of the friends I have now.

2. I’m thankful that my sister has gone through and still deals with anxiety and panic attacks.

I’ll be honest, I prayed for it to go away, for my sister to be healed, for my family to not have to deal with it anymore. And I still hope for the day that it will all be gone. But I’ve gotten to see over the years how this difficulty has shaped me, my sister, and my family. We’ve had to grow in forgiveness and understanding. I’ve had to grow in patience, sympathy, and giving up what I want. It hasn’t been an easy road, but it’s the one God gave my family, and He has brought good out of it.

3. I’m thankful that I’ve never had a serious romantic relationship.

This is a struggle I’ve had off and on for a long time, most girls do. I have wanted to find a guy, get married, and start a family. And I’ve waited, and waited. I never thought I’d be in my mid-twenties and still not be married. But it has allowed me to have time for other things that I love. A lot of the couples I see around me spend so much time on that one relationship, and they need to, but it means they can’t spend as much time with other people. I’ve seen God use this extra time in my life to give me the freedom to go on mission trips, serve in ministry, and disciple other ladies in the faith. And throughout this time of waiting, God has shown me that what brings true joy is Himself, and not the fulfillment of my desires.

4. I’m thankful for my fear of public speaking.

I’ve never liked talking to groups of people, and for a long time I’ve been the shy girl in the corner that doesn’t talk. So public speaking has always been difficult for me. And it still is, I don’t like the spotlight on me. But through this weakness, I’ve seen God’s strength. He has put me in situation after situation where I need to speak in front of groups, give presentations, teach lessons, and… well speak publicly. It’s uncomfortable, it’s scary, and I still struggle with what to say. But this has forced me to rely on God each time. I learned early on that when I trusted God with my fear and asked for His help, He provided. And so I still go to Him. Each time speaking publicly arises, I have to trust Him all over again. And this learning to place trust in God, instead of my own talents, is a special gift I wouldn’t trade.

So, what are a few things you are thankful for?

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Nov 3

Voting

by lydiamhill

Usa, Election, Democracy, Voting, Votes, Political

Image Source:https://pixabay.com/en/usa-election-democracy-voting-806576/

Well tomorrow’s election day, and if I didn’t remember before, I remember now. I didn’t make it to early voting this year, but I’m still planning on voting tomorrow.

I don’t really have much to say about voting… It’s a right we have in the United States, a right that many have fought for over the years. I know women especially fought hard for this right in the early 1900s. I know there are some Christians out there who don’t participate in voting, or who get really wrapped up in it. And there are a lot of people in general who don’t vote, I don’t know their reasoning behind that decision, but it seems to be a large portion of the population.

And I admit, there are times I really don’t feel like voting either. And I’ve definitely had the thought that my vote won’t make a difference one way or the other. But even if it might feel like that, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t participate. I’m not saying as a Christian you have a duty to vote, I don’t know how much God really cares about that. He probably cares more about your heart and why you’ve made the decision to vote or not vote, and I’ll leave that between you and God.

But I heard something from a friend the other day, and well, I’d like to quote him on it. “Don’t complain if you don’t vote.” I know technically you can complain, no matter if you vote or not, but I think it speaks to a certain truth. If you want change to happen, do your part to make it happen. Don’t just sit back and complain about something that you’re not willing to do your part to fix.

So be a part of the change you want; go vote.

Well there’s my little rant for the day. I hope you make it to the polls tomorrow, no matter what ‘side’ you’re voting for.

Christian Life

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Sep 29

A Lesson in Joy

by lydiamhill

 

Girl, Joy, Smiling, Happy, Children, Child

Image Source: https://pixabay.com/en/girl-joy-smiling-happy-children-206144/

I’ve been learning a lot about joy recently. Partly because it keeps coming up at church as we read through Philippians, but also because of what I’ve been going through lately. I tend to be a happy person, and look for the positive in each situation. But when circumstances get hard, I feel like I have a right to be angry, upset, hurt, sad, depressed, etc. In essence I can throw myself a little pity party and I want everyone to notice and try to make me feel better.

But that is not right. Even if a lot of other people do the same thing, and there is a time and place to mourn and cry and be sad. At the end of the day, it’s not about me, what I want, what I don’t have, my feelings, or anything related to me. It’s really all about God. His plan for my life is what matters, not my own. And I know if I let go of my self pity, and focus instead on what God is doing, I will have joy. It’s more of a choice than I realized at first. And it’s a hard one to make. There’s something in me, probably in my selfish will that wants attention, wants other’s love, wants to be noticed, but even when I finally do get that attention I crave, it doesn’t make anything better. I’m still stuck feeling sorry for myself. It’s only when I stop looking at me, that joy, life, and peace shine through.

Well it’s a lesson I’ve had to learn again and again, and I’m not done learning it. Each day I have to choose not to focus on me, and instead focus on Jesus. But I know it’s better. And I’d like to ask you to do the same thing with me today.

Christian Life

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Sep 15

Hinds’ Feet on High Places

by lydiamhill

Image Source: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BZQ461C/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?ie=UTF8&btkr=1

I’ve been doing more reading recently, and one book that I finally got around to reading that I really enjoyed is Hinds’ Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard. I’ve heard that it was a really good book, but reading it now has made it more significant to me.

The book is an allegory, it follows the tale of Much-Afraid as she journeys to the High Places and tells of all the sacrifices and suffering she must go through to finally get what she desires and become the person she longs to be. But it also reflects what many people go through in life, including the author. I read the autobiography at the end of this book about how Hannah had her own journey to the High Places. It really resonated with me.

In my own life, times have been hard recently. There have been deaths in the family, funerals, memorials, and a lot of emotions swirling around. But as I’ve seen in my own past, and also clearly in this book, God doesn’t leave us alone in the hard times. And He ends up using them to shape us and make us more like Himself. It is still hard to go through those valleys, those lonely places, the storms, deserts, and wastelands of life. But I have a hope and I know that God is still good, still in control and still at work, even in my own heart.

So I don’t know what’s going on in your life today, if everything is running smoothly, or if it’s just been one of those days. But I want to encourage you that whatever you face, put your hope in Jesus. And if you’ve never read Hinds’ Feet on High Places, check it out.

Well that’s it for now.

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Mar 7

A Church Family

by lydiamhill

Schoolhouse, School, Education, Building, Learn

Image Source: https://pixabay.com/en/schoolhouse-school-education-312546/

I’ve been thinking recently about my church and I wanted to share some thoughts.

Here’s a starter question. On a Sunday morning, would you rather go to some event or entertainment venue for half price, or go to church?

Recently I had a friend suggest that I should go to an entertainment venue on Sunday morning because it was half price. I didn’t say yes or no at the time, I just listened to the suggestion.

As I see it, you could have three different responses to this question. 1. You could say, “Yeah I’d like the half price coupon.” 2. You could say “Well I should probably go to church, but that sounds fun.” 3. Or you could say, “Miss Church? No way! I wouldn’t miss this for anything!”

Now I don’t know where you would fall on the scale, but I lean towards the third option. I hardly ever miss church, and not just because I feel like I’m supposed to go there and will feel guilty if I don’t. I go, because I want to. I get to see my good friends, be encouraged and prayed for, and hear about the great things God is doing in our congregation. It is a sweet time, with my family. And I really would call the members of my church my family.

Fun, Happy, People, Happiness, Joy, Happy People

Image Source: https://pixabay.com/en/fun-happy-people-happiness-joy-1012681/

When I step into the school building where we meet, it feels like coming home, I get hugs, smiles, and “How are you’s?” and it lifts my spirits. If I had a bad week, I can tell someone about it, if I had a great one, I can share that too.

I read a blog post recently about a church’s first impression. The post mentioned if the technical equipment works, if everyone knows the songs, or if the preaching was thought out and well prepared.

I get all that, and it is important. But more so, I think what really matters in a church, and really makes the best first impression, is when someone actually says hello to you, shakes your hand, maybe gives you a hug and asks how you are. That’s what family does.

Now maybe your church doesn’t feel much like family, maybe you want to slip in and slip back out without getting noticed or talking to anyone. But that is not what Jesus intended for His church. The church is His body, and it needs to be connected in order to function.

So I would encourage you, if you attend church, to start treating the people there more like family. Say “hi,” ask how you can be praying for the person sitting next to you, and maybe even take someone out to eat after church and get to know them better.

Well that’s my thoughts for the day. Let me know what you think.

Christian

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Feb 25

The Lego Movie and “The Special”

by lydiamhill

the-lego-movie-poster

This past weekend I finally made it out to the theaters and got to see one of the films I was looking forward to: The Lego Movie. I played with these as a kid, although my brothers were more invested in the toy than I was. But I thought the film looked interesting, not to mention hilarious. I love Chris Pratt’s comedy and couldn’t wait to see the movie.

I don’t want to say I was disappointed, I really did love the movie. But I wasn’t overly impressed either. I guess the film met my expectations and that’s about it. A lot of the jokes that I’d seen in the trailers were there, and they were still funny. And I liked how the film dealt with not only Lego characters, but also the people who play with them. It seemed to categorize the types of people who play with Legos into two groups: those who follow instructions, and those who invent as they see fit to make their own creations. The film did a good job of showing the pros and cons of both. The characters who invented as they wished were often fighting with the other characters, trying to say their creation was the best, while the characters who only followed instructions were able to work together and accomplish bigger things as a team. But sometimes creativity was really needed, and being able to improvise instead of following specific instructions was especially useful.

If there was one thing I would complain about, it was the action shots. I had trouble keeping up with what was happening in these scenes. Maybe the camera angles were too wide and there was too much information, so I didn’t know what to focus on. Or maybe the “blockyness” of Legos made it harder for my eyes to understand what was what. In any case, several of the action scenes seemed to blow past me in a blur of motion.

But the biggest thing I liked from the movie was showing how much each person, even a blocky Lego character, wants to be special. The whole premiss of the movie is that “The Special” will save the Lego world. I think all of us long to be significant, and hope that our lives mean something. Not only our hero in the movie, but even side characters, longed to be special. And ultimately, this is how our hero, Emmit, saves the day. He realizes his own “specialness” and tells the villain that he is important too, that he is special.

This reminds me of what I have been learning in church recently; that God created each person uniquely with a specific way of reflecting His glory and a purpose that goes beyond themselves to affect others. I think this is something we all need to remember and be able to tell others around us. We all have a purpose, we all are “special” and we shouldn’t look down on others or ourselves as unimportant. We should encourage and remind each other that we all have value, we all are important, because we are all made in the image of God.

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Feb 18

Proposing and Predestination

by lydiamhill

 

So a couple of weeks ago, I had to try to explain predestination to some Jr. High kids at church. This is one of those subjects that can be hard to understand even for an adult. and oftentimes results in negative responses. I know I’ve had my issues with predestination in the past. So I started brainstorming about how to explain predestination. Then God revealed to me that “proposing” can be a great example or illustration of predestination. I know it’s not a perfect analogy, but it helped simplify the concept for the younger audience. So I thought I’d share it on this blog.

So basically when a guy is going to propose to his girlfriend, he usually puts a lot of forethought, planning, and effort into how he’s going to do it. It’s not usually a random thing. A guy can go to a lot of trouble trying to make everything perfect, and the plethora of videos on Youtube can attest to how extravagant a guy can get. But all these planned efforts have a purpose behind them; to show the girl that he loves her. In the end, however, when the ring comes out, the girl can still say “yes” or “no.”

Couple, Love, Sunset, Proposal Marriage, Water, Sun

Image Source: https://pixabay.com/en/couple-love-sunset-915991/

It’s kind of the same way with God. He has predestined, or planned out our lives, with events and circumstances in an effort to show us that He loves and cares for us. But we still get to choose between loving Him back or rejecting Him.

It doesn’t really make sense to say that God forces us to love Him, because He’s predestined it, anymore than a girl could say a guy is forcing her to marry him because of an awesome proposal. God wants our love to be real and genuine, not forced.

In addition, when a girl gets proposed to, most don’t respond with “Wow, I’m so awesome,” or start looking around at the people nearby and asking why the guy didn’t get flowers for everyone. Instead, what we hope to see is a grateful smile, an excited “Yes!” and a declaration of love from the girl.

I think that’s what God longs to hear from us. He doesn’t want us to start thinking all high and mighty of ourselves, becoming prideful, or start wondering if God isn’t fair because he doesn’t choose to save everyone. Instead He longs for our hearts to be filled with gratitude, love, and devotion to Him.

That’s how I try to respond to God’s choice to love me. Sometimes I do have questions, predestination is a hard concept to get, but ultimately I choose to trust that God knows what He’s doing even if I don’t understand it.

 

Christian

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Sep 5

Lessons from Haiti: Reinforced Lessons and Growing Confidence

by lydiamhill

So I’m back from my most recent trip and it’s time to finish up my lessons from Haiti blog posts. I hope you’ve enjoyed these as much as I have. I only have a few days left to blog about, so I hope you enjoy them.

Day 6: Reinforced Lessons and Growing Confidence

So this was Wednesday. The week was already half over. This day really just reinforced several things I’d already been learning about prayer, unity, relationship, and Christ’s Church. In the end, these reinforced lessons built my confidence in God.

rocksThis was another work day, and although I thought I was done with the manual labor part of the trip and could just stick to painting, God had other plans. After breakfast the whole team was called together to help haul rocks up the hill. Now these weren’t little pebbles or hand sized stones, these were big, heavy, rocks. We could only fit two, or maybe three in a large bucket to pass down the line. After several buckets, your arms got tired, and your back might get stiff if you happened to be someone on the stairs, or a steeper part of the hill. But it wasn’t tiring work, because we were working as a team. We helped each other and sent messages of encouragement down the line, along with the rocks. Even my little painting helper and her cousins wanted to be part of the work, so they jumped in the line and tried to help carry rocks too. Like I said, the lessons I had learned already were being reinforced. God has placed us in a body, and with everyone working together, a lot can be achieved.

20130807-145519-DSC_6311I was also reminded of the importance of relationship later in the day. After lunch we got to go to the village church for worship, and I decided to bring my little notepad along. I ended up drawing little sketches of animals for all the kids at the church. It was so much fun to see their smiling faces. I was literally surrounded by children who either wanted a drawing, or just wanted to watch the lines connect and become an animal. This was my last interaction with the village kids and it was very precious to me. I know I couldn’t give them much, but what I could give, God used to bring joy. In essence, I relearned that relationships matter a lot, even more than food, or money, or finishing a project.

guitarDuring the worship time at the church we were able to learn a song in Creole and sing it all together. It was so good to actually know what I was singing and what it meant. We even copied down the words and taught the song to our home congregation in Texas when we got home. That song, at least for me, symbolized the unity of Christ’s church and how we can all worship God, no matter what language we speak.

muralI also got to see God answer many more prayers this day. Some of them may seem like little things, but they brought so much encouragement to me and our group, that they were significant. We again prayed for the radio transmitter when it stopped working, and God made it start working again. And when my mom and I were trying to stencil in letters for the radio logo, there was a storm. We had waited all day for it to get dark, so we could actually see the projector’s image, and now it was raining. Our group prayed and then offered to hold a tarp over the projector so we could still do the work that night. God stopped the rain, and brought it down to an occasional drizzle and our team faithfully held the projector in place and covered it with a tarp. God provided the right weather, and when we finished we sat back down, under the pavilion. As we began to share more touching testimonies in the group and continue to grow closer to each other, the rain came again. God had provided.

As I read through my journal entry from that day, I noticed one of my prayers to God was expressing a deeper trust in God. Before this trip I’d been worrying a lot about where my life was headed and what job I was supposed to be pursuing. I had a lot of questions, but on this day, I had a lot of trust. I could see how God had provided over and over again on the trip and I realized that I didn’t have to worry on the trip, or at home. Whether it was equipment not working, or bad weather, God could handle it. And He can also handle my problems at home just as easily.

Haiti Stories

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Aug 27

Lessons from Haiti: The Importance of Relationship

by lydiamhill

I hope you’ve enjoyed these lessons from my trip to Haiti. This will actually be my last post for awhile. I’ll be on a trip for a week and won’t have much time for blogging. But when I return, I’ll finish out the Lessons from Haiti series. Thank you for your patience! I feel like I’m leaving out a lot of important details from the week in Haiti, but it’s hard to summarize everything that happened into a short blog post. Maybe I’ll have to do some extra posts later about other things that happened, like climbing the hill next to camp and stargazing.

But enough of that, let’s talk about Tuesday.

Day 5: The Importance of Relationship

20130806-093955-DSC_6061 20130806-110009-DSC_6074 Deborah 2 Deborah

This day taught me over and over how important relationship is, not only with other people, but with God. We’ll just start at the beginning. Tuesday morning I began working on my project (the logo of the radio station) or really just priming the walls for the logo. But as I began to work, a little girl who was staying at the camp with her relatives came to watch. It didn’t take long for her to pick up a brush and start mimicking what we were doing. Now keep in mind that it was hard to communicate. I think I’ve said several times that I know little to no Creole. So all I could do was point, nod and say wi, or shake my head and say no. I wasn’t sure how much help the young girl could be to the project, but as we worked her smile reminded me that the reason we were there was not just to finish some project, but to build relationships. And so, to remind me of how much more important relationships are, God gave me a little girl to paint with for the rest of the week.

And it’s not just people that we need relationships with; God is our heavenly Father and we need to be in a relationship with Him. As more frustrations arose that day and we cried to Him in prayer, I saw God’s loving fatherly response. For example, one of my teammates came up to me and told me that the radio station was not transmitting and they couldn’t figure out what the problem was. So we stopped and prayed that God would fix it. Not five minutes later the radio station was broadcasting! I felt so overwhelmed with God’s love and how He will take care of our needs right away and not delay.

That evening we went to another revival meeting at the village church and God broke down the barriers that had been separating us from the Haitian believers. I saw this most clearly through a young woman sitting a few rows in front of me. She noticed that me and a friend were trying to sing along with the music and she started mouthing the words to us and making little hand motions so we could understand what the song meant.

Then one of our team members got up and shared his testimony with the congregation. He told everyone that he felt like he’s coming home when he goes on mission trips because his ‘family’ is in these small remote churches. The pastor said he was trying to teach his congregation the same thing and God was using us to reinforce the idea that we are a family in Christ.

And lastly, we ended the day by sitting in a circle on the pavilion and listening to more testimonies from the group. It was such a good bonding experience that really forced the relationships within the group to go deeper. And the night ended with one team member praying a prayer of thanksgiving for each team member on the trip. He summarized so perfectly what each person brought to the group and encouraged us all that we were meant to be there and our presence was making a difference.

God was growing relationships within the team, within the community, and with Himself. This day was a beautiful lesson in the value God puts on relationship.

Haiti Stories

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