Bible Stories

What is your favorite Bible story?

Sounds like a simple, questions doesn't it? There are tons of stories in the Bible, everything from creation to floods, to armies, to whales, to parables, I mean the Bible is thousands of pages. Should be easy for someone who has been a Christian their whole life to answer. But it wasn't. I thought and thought and couldn't come up with anything.

I knew my favorite verse off the top of my head: For he is not here, he is risen. Come and see the place where he laid. Matthew 28:6. I mean, everything about my life hinges on this verse...the fact that Jesus is alive.

There I had it, my favorite Bible story is the one of Jesus. Because Jesus is everything. It is because of Him that I have life, that I have purpose. Without Him life is nothing. I want my life to be about bringing Him glory.

And then I realized that it isn't the stories that make me a Christian, it is the relationship. It is important to know how God created the heavens and earth, and that Noah had two of every animal in his ark, and Joseph had a colorful coat that made his brothers crazy jealous, and Jonah was swallowed by a whale, and it only takes faith as big as a mustard seed, and the greatest of these is love. But more, it is the ability to apply this knowledge and learn the character of God. To fall in love with God more and more each day.

What does your favorite Bible Story say about God?

Home is...

When you own a house, but haven't moved in yet the word home has multiple meanings. This has led us to have to specify which home we are talking about. The one with all our stuff or the one we are working to make perfect for us. Obviously this proves home is not a place. Home is truly where the heart is. Home to me is where love is. And this is where my husband and I are together. That is home. We are home.

This is our new house, it is not all of the house, but the middle part. Every time I walk in I feel more and more at home. And fall more and more in love with the house. There are 3 bedrooms in the upstairs along with 1 1/2 baths. Today we finished painting the living room 'orange slice'. It goes perfectly with the teal kitchen that is right off it and looks much better than the country mauve.
The basement has a storage room, a bathroom, a really long room and the perfect nook for my scrapbooking. I am looking forward to moving all my stuff in there.

And this is us with our keys in our house right after closing. You can see part of the kitchen in the background.  There are still some minor things to be done around the place, but we are ready to move in!










So next time you are in our neck of the woods stop on by and we'll give you the grand tour.

The Hike

On Sunday Jim and I went to the Konza to hike the trail. It was beautiful as always and I was excited to show it to Jim. One of my favorite parts is at the beginning where you have to cross some bridges. 

After crossing the bridges the real hike begins. The rolling hills seem to never end and the wild flowers are beautiful. 

Then we made it up the hill. That is quite the hike in and of itself. I always feel so accomplished to make it up that far. 

And then as we were finishing our hike there were these trees that caught our attention. One with a hole straight through it, yet somehow still alive. And the other was just huge and so dominating. 

Overall such a great day with my husband. 

That is until I had a 'heat stroke' and learned that a lemon slush burns way more coming up than going down. So that my friends is why I don't do the outside thing much. I mean, it wasn't very hot and the sun was covered most of the time and I even wore sunscreen. Moral of the story: drink the water not a lemon slush. Mostly because I think it will burn less if it comes back up.

I got married, and it ruined my blog

I got married, and it ruined my blog.

It's true.

It's not that I don't have thoughts or ideas or funny things to say or even serious things to say. It is that now I have someone who I want to tell it all to. Someone who happens to not read my blog. And that would be my husband.

So you all can thank him for my lack of blogging. Seriously, you may be glad you don't have to feel obligated to read this anymore. Or not seriously, maybe you really enjoyed my perspective on things.

What this means to you my reader: If you want me to blog, message me or comment on here or send me a text with a topic. I will likely blog about anything so long as it is appropriate.

So long, until my first topic request (or as my husband thinks, until we move to our house and all of a sudden I am full of ideas to blog about).

You talkin' to me?

Have you ever wondered if God is talking to you? I mean, you hear about Him talking to other people, they seem so certain of it, but they are doing big things with their lives. They write books, they preach, people actually like them, they never lose their temper, they care about everyone, they are famous. But me, I'm not any of those. So, would He really take the time to talk to little old me?

The answer is an exponential YES! 

All over the Bible God picks the little guy, literally he picked a short guy, Zacchaeus, to eat with. (Check out Luke 19) Back in those days who you ate with said so much about you. He picked the prostitute, He stood up for her, and then told her to go and sin no more. (Check out John 8) He chose a guy who was afraid to talk in front of people, Moses. (Exodus 3)

So if He used those people, why wouldn't He use you? And when He uses you He speaks to you. 

Now we have determined He does talk to us, but how? And can we be sure it is Him?

God has spoken to me specifically about several things in my life. When the year 2011 started I clearly heard from God that I would meet the man I was going to marry, not that we would date or even really that I would know him well, but that we would simply meet. And guess what. I did. He is my husband today. 

Another time was when I was quite dissatisfied with my job. I had been applying for jobs and nothing was working out, not an interview or anything. After several months of this I clearly heard God tell me to "Suck it up and deal with it". And I did. It wasn't 3 months later my current boss approached me with my current job. 

Another time God simply kept closing doors I tried to go through. He kept me where I needed to be. 

There have also been times where there is no clear answer, but I know God gave me the wisdom and smarts to deal with the situations in front of me and He trusted me to make a decision, neither being bad, just leading me in different directions. 

Other times I read a passage of Scripture and in that moment, in my circumstance it spoke to me. God uses it to let me know He cares, He is invested, He loves me. 

You see the thing is, when you are listening God speaks. Sometimes it is things you don't want to hear. And sometimes you don't pick up on it right away. Other times God is trusting you with the decisions in front of you. He gave you a brain and expects you to use it. Maybe God is being silent in your life. Keep seeking. God's timing is more perfect than anything you can imagine. Don't give up, God wants you, but He wants to make you the best you that you can be. 

How can you know it is God?

Test what you are hearing against the Bible. When God speaks He holds true to His character. Don't know what that is? Read the Bible. Seek the wisdom of those who are wise, trusted Godly friends. 

When you feel God is silent start investing in your relationship with Him. Read the Bible. Pray. Seek. 

My name is...

It seems all the rage these days to talk about unique names. So because I am like everyone else, I wanted to capitalize on this trend. And because I have real life experience with this.

As you know, my name is Noni, at least that is what I go by. I think all of my readers will agree this qualifies as a unique name, or as I like to think of it, a fun name.

The thing is, having a fun name is one of the most amazing gifts my parents have ever given me (right behind growing up in a Christian home and them being the most amazing parents and giving me a pretty cool brother). People talk about how difficult life is and how you have to spell your name all the time. Yeah, rough huh? Or not.

And yes there are small victories when it comes to having a unique name, and you sometimes have to pick your battles. But why not laugh at these times and know that it all part of being you, the person with a fun name. If people around these parts say they know Noni, chances are it is me. I have only in my life met one other Noni. Can you say the same about your name? I also always have a great conversation starter. I say 'Hi, my name is Noni'. That leads to a few questions about my name and a new friend.

Here is one of my stories of life with a fun name: When I was in college I took a semester of Children's Lit. Our professor was also the librarian. I went to the same small Christian college for 4 years. The whole time she pronounced my name properly (no-knee), but that one semester she called me Non-ie. It was an 8 o'clock class, so that was not a battle I picked. Interestingly enough, after that class she always called me Noni.

My hope is that people can really embrace their name and how it has affected their life, and really embody who they are created to be. Love who you are, name and all. And know that above all the most important name you will ever have is Child of God.

Maybe in one of my later blogs I will tell you about my real name, also unique, and other than my namesake, I have never heard of another with it.