Simple Update

Hi everyone.

It's good to be back. For a moment at least.

To be honest, I've missed blogging. I've missed connecting with you all online and sharing my life with you.

Lately I've been volunteering, sewing for the hospital, reading more simpleness books, enjoying family, helping making some films, and living life.

Things have been such a mix this year. I've had some really amazing things happen. Continuing to volunteer, family time, filming, etc. I've also had some hard thing come into my life. My Dad was diagnosed with a Cognitive illness, I've been struggling with discontentment, and trying to decide where God wants me.

It's been a year full of challenge and blessing. And through it all God has been there, loving me, helping me, showing me the way to go. Even though I've been confused, I've never been alone. Even though life has been difficult at times, I've always had the strength to get through. Even though I've cried out in pain and hurt and frustration, I've always found loving arms waiting to hold me.

I don't have it all together, but I'm becoming okay with that. The great thing is I know the one who does have it all together. And He doesn't need any competition.

So today, my goals are to enjoy the life I have and lean a little closer to the one who gave it to me.

God bless you, Rose

Simple Close ... For now anyway

Dear friends,
     I had all these great plans. I was going to grow this little blog and have it stay around for a few years.
     But lately I have been feeling God's call to live out my faith more than write about it. It's time to focus on other writing. It's time to enjoy life and not just write about it. It's time to practice things without the distraction of having to write about them.
     So for now, I'm not going to be writing on this blog. I might pick it up again sometime, but at least for now I'll be living out my simple life instead of blogging about it.
    So farewell for now and I pray that your life is enriched and strengthen by God, Rose

Simple Sleep

Have you ever thought about how much time that you sleep? Studies say that on average we spend a 1/3 of our lives asleep.

Yet how many times do we skimp on sleep? Stay up late instead of getting rest? Get up early because we feel we have to?

Have you ever thought that sleep is a gift? Think about if we didn’t have sleep. For 24 hours we would be running around with nothing to make us slow down. Many times, tiredness is God’s way of getting us to stop and rest.  

So the next time you’re thinking of pulling another late, stop and take advantage of one of God’s gifts. The gift of sleep. The gift of rest.   

Simple Beauty

I just thought I would share some simple beauty with all of you. 

Simple Challange

I've been challenged by Rachelle, to go to the 77th page of my latest work, go to the 7th line, copy the next 7 lines/paragraphs and post them. Well, since I am a playwright most of my works are under 50 pages. But I'll go to the 7th page of my play Just Kathleen.

Reporter 3: Now that you are home, do you intend to try and take over control of the country from your father? He has been showing signs of failing health and some think this would be the perfect time for you to take over for him.

Kathleen: I do not. My father is perfectly capable of handling his own affairs. He has lead this country well. And I know that he will lead it well until he dies.

[Pause. Reporter 1 raises her hand. Kathleen motions to her.]

Reporter 1: Is it true, Princess Kathleen, that you haven’t found a husband yet? Tradition indicates that every princess for the last one hundred years has been married by time they are twenty three and you are fast approaching this age.

Kathleen: I am well aware of tradition and will do my best to live up to the peoples expectations.

Reporter 1: So you’re saying you have a boyfriend.

Kathleen: I am saying I will do the best for my people. On that note, I wish to take my leave. Thank you all for being here today. 

I hope you enjoyed this. Have a simply wonderful day. 

Simply More

I’ve had people tell me …

“Rose, you should be on Broadway.”

“Rose, you should be a recording artist.”

“Rose, you should be a movie actress.”

You get the picture. People think that I’ve got some talent and they want me to use it.

I know they mean well, but to be honest I have never been interested in working for Hollywood or Broadway. From what I can see the people who go to those places, end up getting sucked into the fake lifestyle and sin. I never wanted to do that. I enjoy acting and playwriting, but not to the point that I would be willing to do anything to have them.

I have always wanted to something more with my life than just be on a movie screen or on a stage. I have wanted from my earliest memories to love my Savoir above all else. I wanted to get to know Him and to follow Him. I wanted to love His people the way He does.

The great thing is that God has given me many opportunities to use my talents in acting and scriptwriting to bless His people. These have been great times. And I thank God for every one of them.

But I know I’ll never be a big name star, because I’m not willing to sacrifice everything else in my life. But you know what? I’m so happy where I am that wouldn’t want to do anything else. God is continually giving me blessings of good friends and opportunities to love.

And I may not be famous down here, but I pray and hope that I am up there.   

Simple Blessings

Sorry I haven't been around much lately.
I've been busy trying to work on a short film idea and helping my family celebrate their birthdays. :D
My sister Sarah turned 22 last Saturday. She's such a special blessing in my life. I'm a better person because she's here. She's one of my simple blessings.
I'm blessed to have three younger sisters that have birthdays this month. :)
I also blessed to yesterday to celebrate the 23 wedding anniversary of my mom and dad. Having such loving and supportive parents is a simple wonderful blessing.
And I'm blessed that Blogger has a schedule function. It makes my life a lot easier. 

Simple thought: Was I Upside-down?

Have you ever read a book that made you rethink doctrines you had accepted as fact? You start thinking, “Was my thinking upside down? Have a really been so wrong?”

For me that book has been the Misunderstood God. It’s made me rethink things that I have thought about God and being His Child. It’s made me realize that there is so much that I believed about God that was wrong. Like God gets mad when I listen to secular music (I only listen to uplifting stuff). Like I’m a bad person if I don’t spend some time in prayer and Bible study every day.

One of the things this book helped me to realize is that God loves me. He loves me to the core of my being. He never gets mad at me, He never labels me as a bad person, He doesn’t count my minutes spent in Bible time. He just loves me. We are inseparable. He’s showing me how to live inside the love that already surrounds me. He cares for me too much to withhold His love from me just because I didn’t do a checklist.

What He is showing me is that many times it is more spiritual to listen to “fun music” or watch a “fun movie” (AKA something that doesn’t mention God) Than to try to go through the motions of praising God and not truly be engaging my heart.

For me this thought has been changing my thinking and attitude. Instead of feeling guilty anytime I watch or listen to something that isn’t overtly Christian, I can find God in whatever it is I’m involved in. God uses everything in this world to express his love to us. Every example of true love ultimately can be traced back to God. So whether they wear the Christian label or not, I try to find God in the midst of it.

Relaxing into this kind of love isn’t easy, but I’m finding it so freeing. He’s starting to help me turn my thinking right-side up.        

Simple Lessons

It’s hard to explain all that I have learned from writing on this blog. It feel like I write a few posts and then God challenges me on those issues. It’s like He wants me to really test whether I am really living it out or just writing it just to get praise. Now I can say that it’s not me. God is the one who works in me and through me. I pray that as we continue to journey on I can share thoughts, pictures, and sayings to encourage you on your journey toward a simple life.  

Simple Reason

Sometimes I feel like I’m not accomplishing much with blogging. I put my heart and soul in a post and … there are no comments. Stats are low. No one seems to notice.

Why do I even put out all this effort anyway? I mean it’s a lot of work. Do I do it for the comments? Do I do it so I can say, “I’m a blogger?” Do I do it because I want to inflate my ego and prove I’m right? Do I do that to get people’s attention?

Sadly sometimes as I look at my low stats, few comments, and few followers, I think that if I just had a few followers, comments, or hits I would be happy. But to place value in them is to place value in the wrong things. I don’t blog for comments or followers. I blog for the glory of God and to point others to Him. If I do that then I have done well, no matter what the stats say. If I have touched one life for the better, that is good enough.

The reason I blog is simple. It’s for Him. Without Him I would give it up.

So I pray that you are blessed today. I pray that will help me to look to Him and not stats.   

Simple Repentance

Repent. It’s a word I hear quite often. Every time I do, I think about all the times that I have “repented” of sins, only to keep on doing the same sins. Ouch! I hated when I did that. 

Repentance means that you completely turn around and go in opposite direction. Most of the time I just feel sorry for what I have done, but it doesn’t change anything in my heart. I have found that true repentance happens when God loves me out of sinful habit or when He untangles me from a sin through suffering. When I feel safe in God’s arms, sin has no appeal. When true suffering comes, all my sins and bad attitudes are shown for what they are and I beg God to help me to change them. Slowly He helps me to get free. 

So the next time that someone tells you that you need to repent, ask God to help you to truly repent and change for real. 

Love Made Simple

What is love really? Is it a feeling that comes over you? Is it a thing that makes you act weird? Is love a word that we use to tell someone we care deeply for them? Is it a passion that doesn’t burn out?

The word love is overused today. But I have seen it in a very different context than the one above. If you will I would like to show you some real examples of true and abiding love that I have seen.

Love is waking up every morning and going to work with a job that you don’t love, but it feeds your family. Love is staying true to the person you married, no matter how much they change or circumstances are out of whack. Love is taking care of a dementia patient who will never remember what you do. Love is taking care of a sick person and not caring if you get sick or not. Love is signing over all the money in your bank account so someone can pay their electric bill. Love is being willing to lay down everything you have for someone else. 

I’ve seen this kind of real, deep, and abiding love in action. Once this kind of unselfish love touches you, you are never the same. You never get tired showing this kind of love. You can’t hold it in. It just flows out of you.

And when I think of the love that my Savior has shown to me, my breath is taken away. I can’t put into words all the comfort, encouragement, faithfulness, faith, and love that He has shown me.

So this is love made simple. This is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us. 

Simple Fruit

Most of what we do in this life is planting or watering spiritual seeds. Someone else gets to reap the harvest from our work. 

While we look for fruit and try to see how everything is going to work out this side of heaven. Maybe we are meant to see the whole picture. Maybe we are only meant to see little bits from this side. 

Simply do what God tells you to do and let Him take care of the results. Yet there will be times you will see Him at work. Times when you’ll see fruit. In those times give praise to God and continue to work. He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.

Photo credit Mikayla H. 

Simple Forgiveness

Forgive yourself. If you hate yourself for the things you have done, you won’t have forgiveness in your heart for others. 

All is forgiven! Let the love and mercy of God be enough to cover whatever sin that you have committed.

This is a process and yes it does take time. God has to untangle all the roots of self-hatred.  And for most of us that takes a while. But as God sets us free from the self-hate and hurt, our life becomes richer. Let this process begin.

Simple Fulfillment

Things won’t fill the hole in your soul. They might bring you brief happiness, but they can never satisfy you completely. 

One of the biggest lies of our society (even our Christian society) is that you have to have the new, biggest, and best car, Iphone, jewelry, clothes, make-up, cologne, movies, or furniture to be content.

 But fulfillment comes from God. The more satisfied we are in Him the less we need things to fill that hole. 

If you find that you are tied down to the things of this world, ask God to help you see what is really important. Pray that God will satisfy you with Himself and wean you off things. Be forewarned however, this prayer may lead to radical heart changes and loss of things. Yet the end result is always worth it.

Simple Stress

Stress is easy to slip into. We worry about deadlines, what might happen, money, family, and if we are doing the right thing. 

Part of living simply is letting go of our need to worry and to let God take care of the future. When we are stressed, we aren’t trusting that God is in control. 

If you are struggling with stress today, ask God to give you His peace. Living in peace is to live in incredible freedom.   

Simple Plans

Only plan what you can do in a day. 

You only have so much physical, spiritual, and emotional energy to give in a day. 

Know your limitations and plan accordingly. 

Overworking won’t help anyone, namely you.  

Just do what you can and leave the rest to take care of itself.

Photo credit Mikayla H. 

Simple Ministry

Ministry is one thing that is so easy to overdo. When we think that we are doing something for God it is so easy to justify neglecting God or family for the sake of doing things for God and family. 
Take a good look at everything that you are doing for God. Ask yourself this, “Is this something that I feel called to, or am I simply doing this because I feel I should?” If you are willing to be honest, this can change how you look at so many things. 
Not everything that we think of as God’s work is really God’s work. God has different callings on all of our lives. The question is: what is He calling you to do? Ministry will result from simply loving the people that God places in your path. 

Simply Happy

Yesterday I was out in our woods, listing to music and dancing. One song I came to was Happy by Ayiesha Woods.

No record deal, no dream fulfilled, no three minute video
No catchy jingle, no big hit single playing on the radio

Can make me happy enough
Can make me feel the way you do
You make me happy
I wanna make You happy too
You make me happy
You make me happy

No flashy cars, no movie stars, no man, woman, boy or girl
No fancy things, no diamond rings, nothing in the whole wide world

Chorus

No I cannot count the ways You have made my life so blessed
All I know is that You came and made beauty of my mess
Said I cannot count the ways You have made my life so blessed
All I know is that You came and made beauty of my mess

This simple and fun song, sums up my life. Okay so I haven’t hit it big or rocked the world, but God makes me happy. He gives me reason to smile and enjoy life. So what if my life isn’t perfect? God gives me reason to be happy anyway. And that makes me smile.  

Simple Sin and Simple Praise

The other day I was struggling with my sin. I felt horrible that I had had this sin festering in my heart. I prayed for God’s forgiveness. Then from deep down in my soul I heard a prayer rising. Before I knew what was happening I was praying out loud to God. “Thank you God that I can’t boast. Thank you that Your love is real even in the midst of my sin. Thank you that I can’t be proud of myself.” As soon as these words left my mouth, I was confused. God was helping me to praise Him for my pain and sin. It sounds so weird and yet it’s true. 

I thank God to this day that sin reminds me that I am nothing without Him. As painful as fire is, I am thankful that it presses me closer to God. I don’t seek trouble or hardship. But I do see how God can use for good and I am grateful for it.