Tuesday, September 21, 2010

365 Days of Blessings - Day 115

365 Days of Blessings, Day 115

1. God's word is comforting, like a quilt wrapped around me on a cold morning.

2. Finding the book of Matthew to be so familiar that reading it is like hugging an old friend.

3. Despite two power outages or surges that messed up our alarm clock, and despite feeling slightly sick, I helped my husband get ready in time for his vanpool. He helped me yesterday, and I helped him today. That's just what we do, and I love that.

4. Being able to return to bed and write under the covers for a little while.

5. Using the writing prompt "the language of fire" to write a section of The Crystal Sword, when Clara is refined by the refiner's fire and defeats her enemy.

6. The feel of a smooth page under my right hand while my left guides my pen across the page (I wrote these in my journal first today).

7. A phone call from a friend last night, giving me support and encouragement.

8. This wonderful quote from Jerry B. Jenkins' book WRITING FOR THE SOUL, "Write because you believe in something. I write because I believe that's what God wants me to do." I highly recommend this book to all writers, especially Christian writers.

9. Researching the properties of different crystals for my novel, The Crystal Sword. Yes, it's fantasy, but I want to have a little bit of slighly reasonable background for it.

10. Books for homeschooling that we've read so far: The Golden Goblet, The Hittite Warrior, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, the Moccassin Trail, and By The Great Horn Spoon. That's a combination of 6th grade and 4th grade historical fiction books. We're off to a good start.

Scripture Blessings:
"In those days John the Baptist came, saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.'" Matthew 3:1

"Produce fruit in keeping with repentance." Matthew 3:8

"I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." Matthew 3:11

"As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son, who I love; with him, I am well pleased.'" Matthew 3:16-17

5 comments:

Jill Kemerer said...

I love your comment about the book of Matthew. I feel that way about Proverbs. I just re-read Luke, though, and it felt like a hug too!

Margo Berendsen said...

Thank you for visiting my blog and sharing about your reading outloud experiences. I'm doing something similar to 365 days of blessing at my other blog, it's called 1000 gifts, except I'm only up to about 70 gifts and I haven't post nearly all summer - but after being inspired by your blessings I am going to get back to my list of gifts from the Lord and being daily thankful. God's Word is like a quilt to warm us - loved that. (though sometimes also it pricks me when I need to be pricked). I loved the quote from Writing from the Soul (gotta get that book) and your writing prompt and research on crystals - we should share info about each other's stories - I am writing a fantasy novel too.

Shannon O'Donnell said...

I love #9. I'll have to check out that book. :-)

Karen Lange said...

God's word is comforting. I feel the same way. It bolsters me up and soothes hurts and struggles. Thanks for the reminder!
Blessings,
Karen

Tyrean Martinson said...

Jill - I think one of the best parts about reading, and re-reading God's word is finding the treasures that warm us, as well as the convictions that warn us. Luke is warm to me, and Proverbs feels like a warning, and I need both.

Margo - I'll have to check out your other blog. 1000 gifts sounds like a great project. For me, the challenge of doing this daily is . . . that some days its hard for me to think of something new, and some days I just can't seem to think of things to be thankful for. Those are the days that this project becomes something I need to do, instead of just something I want to do.
I would love to hear more about your fantasy novel. Mine is being written in stops and starts at this point . . . with life interrupting often, and sometimes I find myself distracted by other writing projects that pop up as great ideas.

Shannon - Writing For the Soul is one of my favorite Christian Writing books, although it is more the inspirational story of Jerry B. Jenkins life as a writer, with advice poured into it. I like writing books like that, and I also like writing books that are more technical, and ones that give great writing prompts and exercises.

Karen - Thank you! I agree. God's word soothes the soul.