Becoming Blameless

Hey There- It's Been A While!

noreply@blogger.com (Kyliegh) — Tue, 07 Jun 2022 19:22:00 +0000

Well hey there dear! How you been? Hasn't our world been just crazy here lately!? So much has happened since I last posted but I have truly missed blogging and I want to get back to it- FULL TIME! When I started this blog it was primarily a ministry based blog I guess you could say but now a day's I am finding joy in not just the spiritual aspect of my life but I am truly finding joy in the everyday.

Since I came to you last so much has happened in my life. Man where to even start!? Okay here is the quick list view:

- Got my Master of Arts Degree in Visual Communication Design

- Started my own business

- Authored and illustrated several children's books

- Started a new children's ministry

- Became a full time artist

-Started cross stitching and a flosstube about it

and so many other things that are not big to other people but have been huge to me like:

-taking time to enjoy nature daily

- spending time with my kids enjoying everyday

- started traveling to places I can drive to

- started decorating my house seasonally with things I make

- started antique shopping, thrift store shopping and yard sale shopping for things to decorate my home with (I am still trying to be a minimalistic as possible so I am very selective in things I get!

BOTTOM LINE- Life is good! At this point in my life I feel my blog is going to change a little but I hope that you enjoy it. There will of course be spiritual material from time to time, housekeeping tips, crafting, recipes, home decorating, cross stitching, quilting and anything else I find to do!

You can go over to my websites to see more about my life as I tend to have more there than here, but I am hoping to do more of the everyday life stuff here and keep the business related stuff over there. My art and business website is here and my cross stitch website is here. As for here, on this blog, stay tuned because great things are starting back up here! I hope you will stay and enjoy the new spin!

Slow Stitching- #52tagshannemade- My Progress so Far!

noreply@blogger.com (Kyliegh) — Sat, 13 Feb 2021 02:17:00 +0000

February has been off to a great start for me. We have had much cooler weather and a bit of snow here and there so I have been inside quite a bit. As I have been going through all of my junk, lol, I came across my threads and fabrics that I have not had much time to work on. I used to sew A LOT but now, well life. Hahaha! Anyways, I do not sit still really well, I have to keep my hands and mind busy. So I pulled my sewing stuff out and got back into sewing by hand. THEN I found the #52tagshannemade challenge!

The tag you see above is my take on tag #4 which is called "Fly Stitch". I discovered this challenge a little late in the game so I started with tag #5, then did tag #6, and now I am working backward to get tags 1-3 finished up. Today is February 12th, 2021 and tag #7 just came out today with a name of "Hexi's". I plan to work on it over the weekend so I can record my process so you guys can see what I mean.

Here is the video I did for tag #4.

Here is tag #5- Kisses

Here is tag #6- A Bevy of Buttons

For this tag, I was feeling cramped up inside and dreaming of the beach. The buttons reminded me of seashells, a beach ball, and the the waves of the water. The orange, yellow, blue and pink back ground reminded me of everything summer.

So I am quite enjoying something that makes me slow down and not use any electronics. I look forward to the challenge each week and I am fixing to start a #sew4thesoul book next! Stay tuned for when I post more of my tags and if you are looking for a small project that will help you relax, why not join in with me!

You can search for Anne Brooke Textile Artist on Youtube to see here introduction video on the challenge. Better yet, here is the introduction video to the challenge!

See you soon once I create tag #7- Hexi's!!

The Lie of More

noreply@blogger.com (Kyliegh) — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 00:24:00 +0000

For several years now, starting in October 2018 to be exact, I started on a journey. I accidently came across a documentary "The Minimalists" and was quickly fascinated. I loved how simple their lives were and to be honest, I had some of their same "issues" as to why minimialism was so appealing. You see I started working at the age of 15. Job on top of job with sometimes as many as three jobs at one time, trying to have it all. And I discovered something along the way. The lie of more.

If you have a newer car..... you'll be happier.

If you have the newest phone....you'll be happier.

If you have a bigger house....you'll be happier.

If you have stylish clothes...you'll be happier.

If you have a lot of followers....you'll be happier.

If you have the newest kitchen appliances....you'll be happier.

And all of it is LIES!!

You work your rear end off, buy the thing, accomplish the task and after a few days, you are back to chasing after something else that promises your happiness. Each and every single time, you are let down, lied too. But I have discovered the secret to happiness and it does not require you to work yourself to death to get there.

Here is the secret, less is more!

I know it sounds crazy but humor me for a minute. Every single thing that you buy, you own, requires more money to keep it up. For an easy example take a car. You have to put gas in it...more money used. You have to change the oil...more money used. You have to put new tires on it...more money used. You have to wash and vacuum the car...more money used. See.

Now let's think of something I bet you haven't thought of before: that cabinet of kitchen dishes that has way more sets than you use in it.

You dirty a plate and throw it in the sink to be washed. Next time you need a plate you don't feel like washing the dirty one, so you grab another from the cabinet. Before you know it you have a sink full of dirty dishes and you use a lot of time and either the dishwasher and detergent to wash them or you hand wash them. Either way, it takes more time and money to maintain those dishes.

Every single thing you own has this same principle. And if you have enough stuff, the clutter of it all affects not only your physical space but your mental and emotional as well. Don't believe me? Research how mental illnesses can be caused by clutter and disorganization!

Okay so where am I going with all of this? I do so well at times and at other times I start to allow things to come back into my house. Not that things coming into my house is a problem, but I haven't got rid of other things in my house when something new comes in and now, I am back where I want to minimalize again. So I thought I would share this info with you guys and see if you want to join along with me. Each week I am going to show you pictures of what I did that week and how much stuff I got rid of. I don't have a crazy number of things that I am going to live on like some extreme minimalists only own what they can fit in a backpack. No! I am a mom to 3 boys and I know that is not possible for our lifestyle. I absolutely can not wait for my home to be clutter free again! So here goes!

Do you need to declutter too? Make sure that you have liked the facebook page to see updates and post pictures if you join in!!

When the Unexpected Happens

noreply@blogger.com (Kyliegh) — Sun, 27 Sep 2020 03:04:00 +0000

It was a Sunday afternoon, 20 days ago, I never would thought this is where the day would lead. Truth is unexpected days are never on our radars, are they? Every single day is an unexpected. So why do we depend on life to go as planned?

Now as a type A person I get it. I like to plan my day, make my lists, and check my charts just as much as the next person, but those items are just tools. We have to understand that we will probably have to completely abandon our plans completely more times than we do not. Just like the picture of my broken wrist above, unexpected things happen.

My one fall that caused my broken wrist resulted in changed work plans for 6-8 weeks. It caused a change in income. It caused a change in my surgical history, since I had to have a metal plate and 7 screws to put the broke bone back together again. It caused a change in how I write, how I type, how I dress, how I bathe, how I now can not do 90 percent of things on my own without the help of someone else's help. It is these unexpected things in life that can either drive us toward or away from God.

I have had more than my fair share of things that are unexpected. I have also had my fair share of these things taking my eye off of my relationship with God. I am not going to say it will not happen again because I am human but I am really conscious now that I can not depend on life to be perfect for me to work on my relationship with God.

It is a matter of daily choice.

It is a matter of daily discipline.

It is a matter of accountability.

It is a matter of .........

not allowing the unexpected to stop us!

My very first left handed painting!

And now it is your turn. What keeps you from your relationship with God? Time? Money? People?

Whatever it has been for you, I can just about guarantee it has been so with me and many others. But it is time to stop. It is time for us to take the most important relationship we will ever have and make time for it, daily! I shared this in my last post but I want to share it again, October 1st we are going to start a new faith community to help hold us accountable to just that. It will be something we have to commit to and do it because well as we have established, the unexpected does and will happen. But God is there with us every minute of the day!

Are you in with us? Are you ready to be committed to your relationship with God daily?

Stay tuned, I have some great news I am busting to share!!

How Soon We Forget- New Faith Community Announcement!!

noreply@blogger.com (Kyliegh) — Fri, 25 Sep 2020 19:09:00 +0000

Recently my family and I took a hiking trip to the top of a high mountain called Chimney Rock. The trail said strenuous but we ignored that part and off we went. Now I should start by saying that we are no where near "in shape" nor do we hike often at all. But we wanted to do this. About a quarter of the way we realized what we had done. We had gotten into a hard situation. We stopped often, we complained and we huffed and puffed along with extreme sweating. This was the one set of stairs about half way up the trail. It was tough.

But we made it. And once we made it to the top and we looked across the land at how far we had come, we felt empowered. Empowered so that we chose to not take the shuttle back but we wanted to hike it again back.

And I was reminded, that is exactly how our spiritual life is too! We go through very hard times in life and it is really easy to stop with our spiritual disciplines each day. We get busy or angry so we stop reading our Bible. Or we don't understand why God allowed this or didn't do that so we stop praying. All the while if we sit down and remember, we know good and well that God has done so much for us and provided time after time in the past. Sometimes I am convinced if we would have kept a journal or a way to stop, sit down, and look back, we would have the courage to keep going. So that is what I want us to do. Starting October 1st for the next 3 months, ending December 31st, we are going to COMMIT, not just when it is convenient or we have nothing better to do, no EVERY SINGLE DAY, we are going to read our Bibles, pray for others and ourselves, give God thanks for all He has done and will do and we are going to do this in community!

In the coming days I will create another post sharing the private group details for anyone who wants to join in. I am also creating a special journal that will be for sale on Amazon soon for any one who wants to utilize that tool to store everything in one place. If you can't afford a journal no worries just grab a cheap composition notebook. We will be sharing what we are reading, prayer requests, what God does and just doing life together. I am so excited to see what God does!!

Comment below if this is something you are interested in doing with us. Stay tuned in the coming days for more details!

Get off the Hampster Wheel

noreply@blogger.com (Kyliegh) — Thu, 10 Sep 2020 13:54:00 +0000

1st left handed watercolor Bible Journaling page. Titus 3:5 we can stop the hamster wheel of seeking others approval, of trying to be good enough for God because our best don't even impress him. Nope! All that we can do is obey, have faith in who God is, study Bible doctrine DAILY ( if Bible is our spiritul food we need food daily!!!(, and confess our sins daily or better the second we do them!! Then we can watch God do his thing. 😍😍😍

I Tried and Failed...Or Did I?

noreply@blogger.com (Kyliegh) — Mon, 03 Aug 2020 02:00:00 +0000

The definition of success seems to be "trying but failing, over and over again, until you figure out what works". Yep that seems about right in my life. You? Well, I failed....ALOT! But along the way I figured out what worked.

Find your niche they say. A Jack of all trades is a master of none they say. Find one thing you love and stick with it they say. Well I am tired of what they say!! I say, I use my God given talents and do whatever God says and I want! For me that means variety, alchemy, eclectic....bottom line, I like to do A LOT.

I like to write. I like photography. I like drawing, I like painting. I like mixed media art. I like journal making. I like to make jewelry. I like to blog. I LOVE being a mom and wife. I like to cook (occassionally). I like to clean (well not really..I have to do that. :) ) I like to organize.

Well.

You get the point.

And from now on....I like to be ME!

On the blog, you are going to get me...and all the crazy things I like to do.

I hope, no I pray, that I inspire you, encourage you, cry with you, feel with you, do life with you, but I refuse, REFUSE, to be one track minded anymore.

I am an ADHD brained woman...and I embrace it from this point on!!

If you can stand all of my "squirrel" moments...hang around. I promise you will see how fun I am soon enough!!

Do you have any problems you need solved? Comment below. I may just feature you on my next weeks post!!

Click here to go view my shop!

P.s. I have an Etsy store where I sell some of my creations from my squirrel moments. Today it was these digital papers I designed. Go check em out!!

Day 4- Prayer and Roses

noreply@blogger.com (Kyliegh) — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 15:05:00 +0000

Day 3 Prayer Bible Study

noreply@blogger.com (Kyliegh) — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 12:25:00 +0000

Here is video 3 (that again I forgot to post here). Stay tuned with us through June 30th!

Day 2 Prayer Bible Study

noreply@blogger.com (Kyliegh) — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 12:23:00 +0000

Hey guys I posted these up on Youtube but totally forgot to post it here! 😮 Please forgive me! If you are not yet subscribed yo my Youtube, don't foget to do that while you there. ;)

Day 1- Welcome to Prayer Bible Study

noreply@blogger.com (Kyliegh) — Tue, 16 Jun 2020 01:46:00 +0000

Welcome to day 1!! Watch the video and commemt below if you so feel led! Glad your here!

Different Viewpoints

noreply@blogger.com (Kyliegh) — Sat, 06 Jun 2020 17:34:00 +0000

Viewpoints. How you were raised, how you think, your morals, your beliefs all determine your viewpoint. Until recently I was pretty much concrete in my viewpoints, until an unexpected eye doctor appointment.

For the last several months, well more like a year really, I have been having intermittent issues with my eyes. While both eyes are affected to some degree it is my right eye that causes me the most problems. First my eyes hurt, then my vision can become blurry; sometimes for days at a time. If it wasn't for the pain and the occasional itching I probably would have just went on about my business without finding out some very important information.

My eye doctor appointment was scheduled with a very well known eye doctor in town. I called and instructed them I had woke up with the issue today and it seemed more intense than usual. They made me an appointment for 3:20 PM. At 3:00 PM I arrived and proceeded in to fill out any necessary paperwork ahead of time, but the doors were locked up. Due to the COVID-19 I thought the doors were locked to screen visitors so I called in. "Your appointment was scheduled for (another town an hour away)." I was furious. I had called the phone number for the location where I was now standing, but they scheduled me for a town over an hour away- without telling me in advance?! Then they proceed to tell me if I can be there by 3:50 PM they will go ahead and see me. NO WAY. It was a 45 minute drive plus, in good weather but today is was pouring the rain. I cancelled the appointment and to be quite honest I was HOT. Then I got a bright idea!

I will google other eye doctors in the area and see if any of them can see me. Sure enough one that was 10 minutes away told me to drive right over and they would fit me it. Let me just say- GOD THING. This as the eye doctor I needed to be at but didn't know it at the time. After jumping through all of the COVID-19 precautions once I was inside, I finally got to see the doctor. I had test after test after test and learned two very important things. Well actually three.

One, I at 36 years old, have the starting of glaucoma in my right eye. Good to know, now I need to come back more often and get it addressed if it gets worse.

Two, I have 20/20 vision and no astigmatism. Now why is that important? Because previous eye doctor had me on prescription eye glasses and said I had an astigmatism in my right eye. (No wonder my eyes hurt and my vision felt wonky after I took them off. I DIDN'T NEED THEM!)

But the third one was the kicker, my color vision in my right eye was not the same as in my left eye. As an artist, this poses some particular pitfalls! Wait, what!? You mean I can see the same exact thing with my own two eyes but what I see with one eye will not be the same as what is seen with my other eye? EUREKA!

If I can do this within my own head, (with color vision) no wonder two completely different people look at life scenarios very differently!

With all of the rioting and the racism issues being screamed at right now in our nation, I am hurt. I am hurt that people are treated differently because of their skin color. I am hurt that one people group is condemning another people group because of one incident. I am hurt that we have the issues we have of stealing, killing, lying, cheating, gossiping, and on and on and on. To me it is quite simple.

Matthew 22:37-39

"Jesus said unto him, Though shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."

This makes life SOOOOOO easy!!! You don't want your stuff stole from you? Don't steal from others. You don't want others lying to you? Don't lie to them! You don't want others killing you our your family? Don't do it to them! You don't want someone vandalizing your property? Don't do it to theirs! You don't want someone shooting you? Don't shoot them!

GUYS WHY IS THIS SO HARD FOR SOME PEOPLE!!!?????

Now let's address another matter. The only way that we can all live in unison in peace IS TO HAVE LAWS TO GOVERN HUMAN BEHAVIOR! My ideals about how I should act are going to be different from yours so there has to be a standard. For Christians it is the Bible. But if you look at the Bible and most of our land laws now, they are very similar. Jesus even tells us to obey our government (unless they are telling us to do something that is against God's law).

Matthew 22:21

"Jesus said, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God the things that are God's."

Romans 13:1

"Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities."

It does not matter your personal opinion on if you like it or not, if you live in the land , you obey the laws. If you don't like them move to another country! Your mama ever tell you, you live in my house, I pay the bills, I feed you, you either go by my rules or you can move out!? Mine did and boy did I listen to her rules. Same principle. If you don't like the rules where you are, move to somewhere that has the laws you like. YOU DON'T GET TO DO EVERYTHING YOU WANT. You just don't. I don't. We all don't. We have laws.

If you break the laws, you get arrested. I KNOW there are crooked cops, politicians, judges and on and on and on. I have seen it with my own two eyes. But acting a fool, breaking laws, looting and vandalizing doesn't do one thing about those people. All it does is make insurance policy premiums go up FOR EVERYONE even the people looting and doing all the trouble making. You have a right to riot....that is funny.... lol. BUT you must do it in a lawful manner. If you are trying to have your voice heard you will just shut people out if you do it by causing problems to their stuff. If you want to get through to people you have to be kind and respectful. Be the change you want to see. Act the way you want others to act!

And let me make this really simple. ALL LIVES MATTER! BLACK ,WHITE, BLUE, GREEN ORANGE, PURPLE RED, YELLOW........ WE ALL MATTER. We are all created equal. And shame on anyone who doesn't get that. God created all humans, whether you agree with them or not. And you will pay on judgement day for how you treat or do not treat others.

If we LOVE OUR NEIGHBOR AS OUR SELF all these problems in our nation will go away. No matter your skin color, no matter your ethnic background, no matter if I agree or disagree with you, I love you. I may not want to be around you, but I can still love you from a distance. I can pray for you when we disagree and I can pray with you when we agree. I will not be around you though if I don't trust you.

People I get it, I really do. My OWN FAMILY has stabbed me in the back so many times I don't even count any more. (Not my immediate family, my extended family, my immediate family is an AMAZING GIFT FROM GOD!") So I know hurt. I also know that those people act from their own personal issues. If people don't like me, who cares. You think I am going to change for them? NO. I will move on to the people who do like me. God created me to be me and if they don't like it, I DON"T CARE. They can just keep on walking. Don't you change for anyone else either, except for God. You live for an audience of one, God. Treat EVERYONE as yourself. Remember, the people who hurt you they have their own personal issues, it has nothing to do with you.

Back to my eye doctor appointment, apparently my eye was sick. It needed steroids and some antibiotics. It is doing much better now but it still has a road of recovery ahead. And just like that, with a little bit of examination, calling the issue my eye had an issue and treating it, my vision is returning to normal. It is going to take time but it is getting there.

Same is true for us. Examine your heart on these issues. If there is an area that God reveals to you is wrong, call it an issue and let God work to change it. Apply your medicine to your heart, read God's word, apologize if you have done someone wrong, forgive if you need to forgive but it is not worth all this craziness that is going on our world. We are only destroying ourselves by continuing on the path we are on.

I know someone is going to get offended by this but I have my freedoms of speech just like you do. if you leave ugly comments, I won't approve them, in fact my programs just filter them out so don't waste your time if you are going to be ugly. Share this post with others. Guys LOVE OTHERS AS YOURSELF and God will take care of the rest.

#loveyourneighborasyourself

#weareallequal

Memories

noreply@blogger.com (Kyliegh) — Sat, 30 May 2020 07:21:00 +0000

Have you ever sit and thought about the last moments of your life? I do quite often. No I am not morbid or unstable, I keep those moments in the forefront of my mind occasionally because it helps me remember my priorities in life. If you want to know what your priorities are, thinking about those last moments can help you figure that out real quick.

If it were my last moments alive I would want my kids and family beside me. I would want to kiss them and tell them how much I love them. I would remind them of how we will all be together again one day soon in heaven. We may even sit and recall some happy memories we had together. And just like that, I know my life priorities.

It is to tell my kids and family how much I love them every chance I can. It is to teach my kids and those I love of Gods love for them. It is to make memories together, vacations, fun evenings or just simple walks with talking...memories. We are living to make memories.

I have been really burdened here lately with the fact that each day we are alive, is one less we have to live. Can we stop time? Can we just find the perfect moment and click pause? No. And the mind must discard things that doesn't serve to keep us alive so we forget sooooo much stuff. We forget memories.

If each day is truly a gift...and it is make no mistake, each day your alive is a gift. Tonight you get to kiss those babies good night. Tonight you get to tell mom and dad how much you love them. Tonight you get to tell friends goodnight. Tonight you got to see or taste dinner or xyz...but one day....you will not get to end your day that way. One day...the day will just end.

So I have determined, I want to remember. I want to appreciate the little cuddles. I want to hold their hands and write it down to remember what it felt like. I want to recall as much about my day on paper as I can recall to record, for no one else except myself.

So I have started. Journaling my days gifts. Today is was the hand of a little boy in mine. It was a Bible topic discussion with my parents. It was my middle son begging to talk a walk. It was the hug of my teenage son before bed. No huge title, no bonus check, no new large purchases, no it was even bigger than that.....it was time spent with my family on a day that I will never get to live over again. Today was a day I don't want to forget. Today was a day with memories.

Prayer... Will You Take A Poll About Prayer??

noreply@blogger.com (Kyliegh) — Fri, 29 May 2020 05:08:00 +0000

I hope you have been around to see that we are going to be starting a brief daily Bible study mini study June 15th through 30th! Each day we will come back here to the blog for our days lesson. I am currently in the process of creating some new resources to help you in your prayer life and I can not wait to give them to you all. But in the mean time I need a favor from you.

I need to poll you guys! Please answer some questions for me to help me in preparing my Bible Study for you guys. Please share this with your friends! Lets get as much feedback as we can.

Click here for the form to answer those questions.

Thank you sooooo much!!

Life Is NOT a puzzle. It is ....

noreply@blogger.com (Kyliegh) — Sat, 23 May 2020 03:21:00 +0000

I HATED this toy growing up! My grandmother on the other hand would sit around and mess with this thing for hours. She finally got tired of messing with it one day. She pulled all the stickers off and re stuck them back on the cube so it looked like she had worked it. She didn't deny what she had done, she just simply admitted, "I got sick and tired of messing with it and the blocks never lining back up." Now I know there are people out there in the world who can truly work these toys but I am most certainly NOT one of them. Not only am I not one of them, but I don't even understand what makes one want to work them. Why? Simply because I can't do it....why try? Then one day I realized, why am I trying to live my life like it is one of these puzzles?

Life is not a puzzle. There is not a secret to making life work. You can not simply find the "perfect" job. Have you been there? I have. Thinking that if you can just find the perfect job that life would be easier. Then you think maybe if I make the perfect amount of money, that is what would make my life better. Or maybe if I date/marry the perfect person, maybe if I attend the perfect church, maybe if I find the perfect people to be in my life.....maybe.....maybe.....maybe......

maybe......we are just wasting our lives.

Life is a journey. Life is a path. Life is like a train track.......

There are turns that have to be made to reach our destination. There are bridges that have to be crossed. There are slow tracks and there are fast tracks. There are stops that have to be made along the way. Sometimes the train gets laid over. Sometimes weather affects the tracks. Sometimes the engine needs to be serviced. NONE of these things happening to the train means that it is on the wrong path. In fact, for a train to get off those tracks and try to drive on a roadway would be futile. Do you follow me?

You have a destination. You are on a journey. If you are having lay backs, it is normal. If you have stopped moving at all for a while, it is normal. If you feel like you have been stuck at the depot for a few years, it is normal. If your engine needs repaired (your spiritual life) then let God work on it. Confess it, turn back to him, get up, dust off, and start back to moving again. You don't have to go 75 mph, just start with 5.

Maybe you are asking, "but where am I going?" Guess what friend. Let me take some more pressure off of you......I don't know.....you can't know. Take a moment to read this.

"Now the Lord had said to Abram, "Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." Genesis 12:1-3

God doesn't show you the plan before you start on the journey. Don't work that way. If he laid it all out for you one of two things would happen. One, you would say it was to hard, couldn't happen, and you would quit. Or, two, you would go off and try to do it yourself without God. Not that you would succeed without him anyway, but what good is faith if you can see everything with your eyes.

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1

You can't have faith, if you can see all the answers.

But did that stop Abram?

"So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran." Genesis 12:4

Now skip over to verse 7. AFTER Abram packed up on this journey that he had NO IDEA where God was sending him, God appears to Him again and gives him another "hint" about what is going on. "Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land.""

God gives clues in life as I like to call them. He shows you along the path from time to time that you are either on the right path, or He nudges you to get back where you know you need to be. God gives directions one step at a time. Just like Abram, it probably won't make much sense. You may feel confused. And I PROMISE you this world will think that you are nuts. But you stay in His word, pray daily, many times daily, and HE WILL be faithful.

THE MOST FAITHFUL BEING YOU WILL EVER KNOW!!!!

So......stop trying to work your life's puzzle. It isn't a puzzle to figure out. It is a path. All you have to do is stay on it. Stop when there is a rest area. Pull over when the engine is running hot. Of course all of this is figuratively but I hope it gets my point across.

If you are tired of life, tired of trying to figure it out, just stop! This is HIS invitation to you. HE HAS GOT IT ALL FIGURED OUT. He doesn't want you to do all that. He is lining things up for you ahead. If it isn't happening as soon as you want, it just means He has something better for you.

Where are you on your journey???? Join in with us on the discussion! Post a pic on your social media accounts of a train or a cube. Have you been trying to work your life like a puzzle? Are you finally getting aboard the train? Use the Becoming Blameless hashtag! #becomingblameless

And spoiler alert, God makes good on His promise to Abram. Go read the rest of the story!!

(Photos from Pixabay)

Sidetracked

noreply@blogger.com (Kyliegh) — Thu, 21 May 2020 22:18:00 +0000

Sidetracked. I am a master at getting sidetracked or as some people call say, "you can't focus". I start with laundry, then before I have a load fully started I am sweeping the laundry room. Then I start cleaning the boys rooms and before you know it I am sweeping the whole house. Go figure. Well the same is unfornaturally true of my spiritual life.

I realize what I should be doing and I start out of the gate like a bullet. Then I get sidetracked. AHHHHHH!!! Pull out my hair, shut the front door! AGAIN!!???? I started this blog in February 2014, man time flies, and I have KNOWN this is what I am called to. I LOVE to write but then I get sidetracked. I KNOW I am called into ministry, then I get sidetracked, usually with the realization that I am the most unworthy person on the planet to do this. I KNOW that I LOVE to connect with you guys, and then again I get sidetracked, usually when haters wanna hate and cause problems.

However, when I get sidetracked I start running toward something else, looking for happiness. Happiness that doesn't last because it is not what I am called to do. See other things in our lives besides God, things that keep us from our relationship with Him are idols or another word we don't want to use is a drug. Anything can be a drug. Literally anything. For me it has been exercise. Allow me to explain.

Exercise to me is my drug of choice. I didn't realize it until about a year ago. I decided in January 2019 that I wanted to compete in a bikini body building competition. The first red flag for me should have been that I haven't been seen in a bikini a day in my life in public. Did I really think that I was going to be able to put one on and be judged?? (Seems really insane now that I think about it). So I started training, training my tail off. I trained from January until June of 2019 until I ended up on the hospital. They thought I was having a stroke so I was admitted. Long story short, I had hurt myself training. After I was told to stop training so much other things presented as issues. My hormones (female) shut down causing a whole host of issues. Then my adrenal glands shut down and I had absolutely no idea that I could have died until I had some tests ran. So I had to stop all exercise for 3 months. Then it was extended to 3 more months. January of this year I started back trying to slowly train again and issues returned. Bottom line is every time I turn to exercise, to run away from something else, I end up hurting myself physically without even intending too. Too much of anything, including exercise, can be a bad thing.

I have known what my assignment is but in all reality I am scared of it. I am scared to fail. I am scared to succeed. I am scared of haters. I am scared of approval. Just flat out scared of the unknown. But I am also tired of feeling totally alive when I am doing this blog thing and loving it but then giving up on it and myself. Happiness can only be found in God and unless I am in the center of his will- I CAN NOT FIND HAPPINESS ANYWHERE ELSE.

When I say this people often respond, well that isn't to fair of God, not making you happy unless you are in the center of his will. Not true. The truth is, that he wants to bless you wayyyyyy beyond what you can even imagine, whatever your greatest dreams are, God has better. But the only way you can experience that is to do it His way. God is not the mean throwing lightning from heaven God that people imagine He is. If you don't believe me go read the Gospels. Jesus is God in human flesh. Just read about how kind and compassionate Jesus was. Yes, we will have consequences for our actions just like I had physical issues from to much exercise but our past doesn't define our future!

And on that note, we are moving forward on the blog!!! I have been creating some really COOL stuff that will be coming out soon. Right now what you do need to know is that we are going to be starting a new series on PRAYER!! Prayer is where God has been really convicting me and where most of you have come to find this blog, through my free prayer videos and resources. SOOOOOOO here are some details you need to save!

June 15th through June 30th we will have a daily 5-10 minute bible study together here on the blog! Then on July 1st, 2020 I will be releasing a brand new beautiful prayer journal so we can finish 2020 as prayer warriors!!!! No matter how we have done with the beginning of 2020 in our spiritual life, we can make the last 6 months a year of AMAZING growth!!!!

Remember, just like this plant, it had to die to its old self (its seed shell). It had to be in a very dark place (buried in the dirt or in this picture in hot cracked asphalt). Then it had to rain before the seed could sprout and start growing!

If 2020 has been nothing but darkness, storms and rain for you so far, take heart! The rest of 2020 can be your time to sprout and grow into what God wants you to be!!! God is our spritual sunlight and just like a plant can not grow without sun, you can't grow spiritually without spending time with God- that is exactly what prayer is!!

June 15th-30th will be our study on prayer. July 1st will be the premiere of my new prayer journal!! More details will be announced in the coming days. If you are not yet on my Facebook page or instagram page, please be sure you go check that out! Links for that are on the top right and/or left of the page.

Let's start growing friends!! Much love!!!

When Dreams Make Sense

noreply@blogger.com (Kyliegh) — Sun, 17 May 2020 19:22:00 +0000

Dreams. Sometimes I have them, sometimes I don't. Do you dream? I am not talking about the kind of things we all want to do someday, you know our "dreams". No here I am refering to our lives that run in our heads while we lay fast asleep in our beds. Here lately I have been having all kinds of wierd dreams. Is there something to them or no?

I used to have wierd dreams. Tornados, snake bites, wolves chasing me, just flat out WIERD DREAMS! I would get up google what dreams meant and yeah, whatever. I come to the conclusion that sometimes there is no meaning to them, it is just flat out craziness. However there are some people who say that our spiritual minds are available to hear more during the night because our physical bodies are quiet. No outward information competing for that attention. Regardless of what you think dreams are or are not, I think that all things can be used for good.

Here lately I have been reading my Bible and/or my spiritual growth book of choice for the week. I went through a point where I felt just dead, simply exsisting, for a lack of better terms. Who wants a life where you just exist? Not me. It's not that my life isn't good becuase it sooooo is. I am blessed way beyond what I deserve, this I know for a fact. You hear people say (and I have no idea who the "people" are because I am beginning to think they do not exist- or if they do they are half crazy themselves) that if you have a good job, a good marriage, a good home, little to no debt, people in your life to share it with etc. then you will have a happy life. Well, they lied. I have it all in those respects but I still wasn't happy.

I sit out to "find" happiness. I read a book, I read some more books and then I read THE BOOK. You know the Bible. Go read the book of Ecclesiastes. The author of the book (most say King Solomon but others question if he was indeed the author, so we will just say "the author") had it all. He didn't deprive himself of anything he wanted and in the end what did it get him? Nothing. He still wasn't happy. So if that is true, why am I trying to do the same things that in the end prove to be worthless.

Psalms 4:7- "You have put gladness in my heart, more than in the season that their grain and wine increased." God himself puts gladness in our hearts, MORE than that a farmer feels after all his hard work planting,sewing and harvesting. So in essesnce MORE than the money you can make. And isn't that all that we are chasing with all our hard work, selling etc.- happiness?

Spoiler alert, it doesn't work- the only happiness that lasts is what God puts in our hearts. That happiness isn't from being "good enough", it isn't from "attending every church service", it isn't from "becoming a monk", it isn't from any formula you think up, it comes from a direct relationship with God himself. And once I got back to reading my Bible, praying and seeking after Him, I was happy again. Nothing changed outwardly in my life, but my spiritual self was back to growing again.

If you are saved, or even if you are not for that matter, you were created with a spiritual "vacuum" of sorts. YOU WANT something to be there. Whether you will admit it or not, you are looking for something to serve. It could be money, a cause, your family, etc. etc. etc. but you want SOMETHING. God is the only thing that can fill that hole! If you ARE saved, hear me carefully, if you are saved and you have stopped reading your Bible, stopped praying, stopped persuing that relationship with God, YOU ARE GOING TO BE MISERABLE, until you go back to Him. You now have two parts, remember? The old sinful man and the new spiritual man, in one body. If you let your right leg and right arm rot off, you would be sick, your body would suffer. Same is true of us now with our spiritual man. If you do not feed it, if you ignore it, you will feel like a part of you is dead. Stuck.

Back to my dream.

So before bed last night, I prayed. I confessed all the sins I could think of to Him then I asked how I could be obedient each day, how I could please him. Then came my dream.

People that have been in my life over the last, well since I have been alive, have been in my dreams at night. They were going through things or having troubles. No I do not think that I am seeing their lives or seeing their future, absolutely not! But I do think that God put them on my mind for a reason. I am going to start praying for those individuals. You see the Bible tells us, " For God is not the author of confusion but of peace," (1 Corinthians 14:33). I am not going to get hung up on trying to figure anything else out. God doesn't need me to do His job for Him. I don't think that is the point. I do think that God can use anything that happens in our dreams at night to draw us closer to Him.

Maybe your dreams are different than mine. Maybe yours are more like nightmares. If so, still let those dreams pull you closer to God. Ask Him to take them away from your playback. Ask Him if there is something that you need to confess to Him as a sin in the situation. Ask Him if there is something you need to pray about. More than anything in this world God wants an intimate realtionship with you. He wants to be your best friend. He WANTS you to take every single thing to Him, to ask for help, to ask for guidance, to tell him thank you. And He wants nothing but the best for you.

Responsibility in A Social Media Age

noreply@blogger.com (Kyliegh) — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 18:40:00 +0000

I struggled for a long time, to be 100% truthful, I still struggle with it from time to time. What is "it" you ask? It refers to my responsibility when using social media. Do you have a grip on your social media responsibility?

Before the days of tiny cell phones in the hands of every American, I can remember the first trip with our new cell phone in my mother's 95 Geo Tracker. It was purple in color and had the most amazing thing- a fold back roof! The grey interior was designed with an arrangement of colorful swirls and it so decorated the interior-in a 1995 kind of way. Our first cell phone was a box with leather covering and the handset into which you spoke was a full size handset just like what you would find inside the house. There was a leather cover that would flip open or closed and was secured with a long velcro strap. The outside of the box had an antenna that screwed in to give you reception. We were high flyers...a phone IN OUR CAR!

Then (or maybe before, I can't remember) there was the day we heard the phone dialing inside our computer...internet. Little did we know how much our world would change.

Back in those days we had relationships. If you wanted to see someone or talk, you went over for a visit. There was personal connection. Now, we put it all out into the world via social media and hope or sometimes expect that people like, love or comment on what we post. Back then if I didn't like what you said or how you behaved, I simply didn't go around you. But now?

Now, we wish we had the human connection back. We wish we didn't see so much drama or bickering. May I suggest to you a concept to cure your socialmediaitis? Go back to the things you missed, in some ways.

If you want to talk to someone on the phone, call them. I personally realized when I stopped complaining that no one was calling and I started calling others, that other people felt the same way. What was the difference? They sat complaining instead of taking action.

If you don't want to see the drama or the bickering, stop looking for it. You can block or unfriend folks who unnerve you without gossiping or causing problems. Simply stop being around those people. And who cares if they figure out you unfriended them....really.....who cares. If they ask tell them nicely and truthfully why you unfriended them. Truth is always better than a lie. We may not like it when we hear it but truth told in love tends the garden of the soul.

So have you figured out where the responsibility lies? On you. No one is going to lookout for your interests....no one....but you. Even a person who loves you more than life cannot advocate for you like you can. You are THE ONLY ONE who knows all of your thoughts and emotions. I also want to throw out there, listen carefully, it is not the world's job to cater to you. You are a pawn in a life game like chess....you move yourself to be where you want to be. You can not control other people, only yourself. If you don't like the conversation, get up and move. If you don't like the post, scroll past and keep your mouth shut. If someone doesn't agree with your hair...who cares....it is your hair.

And to that I add, it is not your responsibility to please anyone else either...well maybe your immediate family...but even that has limitations.

My point, be the change you want to see in social media. Don't expect the world to change for you. Cultivate the emotions, friendships, relationships you want because odds are, others want the same thing.

Lent 2020- Let's Study Together- Starts February 26, 2020

noreply@blogger.com (Kyliegh) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 02:02:00 +0000

We have not got to do any Bible studies together in a while so I thought Lent would be the PERFECT time for us to get back to it!! Click the video for more information! And it is an easy study- everyone can do it- no special books required!

Here is the link for the Do Not Depart Website

If you scroll down on their website you will see a picture of the free printable. Just above that is the link to download it. It is a totally free printable. In case you can not print, here is the reading plan below.

1. John 1:1-18

2. John 1:19-51

3. Mark 1

4. Mark 2

5. Mark 3

6. John 2

7. John 3

8. John 4

9. John 5

10. Mark 4

11. Mark 5

12. Mark 6

13. Mark 7

14. John 6:1-40

15. John 6:41-71

16. Mark 8

17. Mark 9

18. John 7

19. John 8

20. John 9

21. John 10

22. John 11

23. Mark 10

24. Mark 11

25. John 12

26. Mark 12

27. Mark 13

28. Mark 14:1-42

29. John 13

30. John 14

31. John 15

32. John 16

33. John 17

34. Mark 14:43-72

35. John 18

36. Mark 15

37. John 19

38. Mark 16

39. John 20

40. John 21

Please comment below or on the video and let us know if you will be joining us. Also jump over to the Becoming Blameless Bible Study Group on Facebook to share with us daily what your take away from the reading was! I can not wait to see what God does between now and Easter!

Remember, Sundays there is no assigned reading. So you will just catch up if you are behind or reflect on what you read earlier in the week.

Mom Guilt. Do you have it?

noreply@blogger.com (Kyliegh) — Wed, 01 Jan 2020 20:00:00 +0000

Mom guilt. That moment when you feel like a failure. The moment your child says or does something that you wish you could have or would have stopped before it happened. Being a mom is hard! Really hard! I mean we didn't get an owners manual for our kids at the hospital! Or did we? Do we need to be so hard on ourselves?

Mom guilt has been plaguing me for 13 years. December 2006 I became a mom for the first time at the ripe old age of 22. It is a wonder he is still living! HAHAHA! No seriously. We do the best we can. And TODAY I have something that is going to make you feel sooooo much better about yourself! You ready for it?

The mother of the Messiah, Mary (and Joseph) messed up, BIG TIME! Like have you ever lost your kid???? For 4 days....lost your kid????? Mary did! Let's read it together.

"After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus (who was 12 at the time) stayed behind in Jerusalem, but the were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they wet back to Jerusalem to look for him. AFTER THREE DAYS THEY FOUND HIM in the temple courts, sitting among the teacher's listening to them and asking them questions." Luke 2:43-46

Can you imagine!!!!?????? Imagine the fear in Mary's heart!! Where is my baby boy? What have I done? How could I have DONE SUCH A THING? Do you hear those things you are saying to yourself?? If MARY THE MOTHER OF JESUS messed up as a mom, what makes you think that we can even entertain the idea of being perfect moms??? We are human!! We are going to mess up! And that makes us good moms I think! Allow me to explain.

We are not perfect moms so we can't have perfect kids! We can not expect them to be perfect, just like we can't expect perfection of ourselves. When we mess up, and we will- its just a matter of when- we need to turn our shortcomings into lessons. Lessons where we ask forgiveness if needed from our kids for our mistakes. Where we tell them we are sorry and we love on them and hug them and use our example to teach them.

Imagine you saying this to your son or daughter----

"See son/daughter mommy isn't perfect, and I don't expect you to be either. But what we do when we mess up, is we say we are sorry and we try to learn from our mistakes. I will never expect you to be perfect, son/daughter but I expect you to do the best you personally can. From time to time you will mess up, just like I just did, but LOVE, LOVE always forgives and we move on. Will you forgive mommy? If you come to me when you make a mistake, I will be here for you!"

See, Mary wasn't perfect and look at how Jesus turned out! We need to do the best we possibly can, and when we do fail, we apologize and learn from it. But to EXPECT PERFECTION IS DOOM!!! Today mama, just say yes we have messed up, every single mama out there has messed up. But today, we pick up, dust off, and press forward, minus the perfection mentality!

P.S. When a mama friend you know messes up, remember it could have been you. Is it really helpful to gossip about her? Or condemn her? No it is not! We need to be kind like we would like to be treated.

If you have been blessed by this, will you share it to your facebook or other social media's wall? Sharing is caring! :)

Goodbye 2019! Hello 2020!

noreply@blogger.com (Kyliegh) — Wed, 01 Jan 2020 02:18:00 +0000

Was 2019 all you wanted it to be? Was it all that it could be? Can we do better in 2020? Should we?

I don't know if it is because I am getting older or what it is but with each year passing by, I feel like I don't get enough. Not enough money. Not enough stuff. Not enough "good". But could it be that the truth is I have had plenty? Maybe the problem isn't that I don't have "enough" but rather I haven't learned to tap into everything that is available to me. 2020 is going to be different. My vision is changing in 2020. I want 20 20 vision!

In November 2019 I started a journey. A journey I had started before but never seen it through to the end. There is a book called "One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voscamp. It is a hard read, mainly because it is written in a poetic style, not just a read to be reading. But the principal I found there was worth it. Allow me to elaborate.

Each day I was grasping, grasping for the next "thing". If I achieve this, everything in my life will be better. If I get in shape, everything in my life will be better. If I get a better paying job, my life will be better. If I earn status, my life will be better. If I own "this" or "that" my life will be better. It is all lies!!! The chasing and grasping steals from us! It takes away our ability to be in the moment. To appreciate what HAS been given to us. It keeps us focused on what we don't have rather than enjoying what we do have! And once you do get that "thing" you have been grasping for, well then you are right back to grasping for something else!

Can you imagine a life where the struggles just stop? Where financial burdens don't exist? Where a "title" at a job, who cares! Where it doesn't matter if you drive a clunker that is 15 years old versus a new one? I can. I have experienced it.

Each and everyday, you have gifts. Gifts that are wrapped up in invisible bows, sitting, waiting for you to find them. But see you have missed them. I had missed them! I was so busy. Rushing, striving, so much so that I didn't see what was really going on around me! Still confused?

In my journal here are a few of the entries I have made.

90. For having insurance so my son can have his health test. So many people can't afford healthcare.

106. For the little tiny spoons as my friends coffee meeting

112. For a day of NO appointments

136. For cuddles watching movies with my kids.

153. For nail polish

165. For dentists an the people who care for our teeth

178. For Tylenol and how it helps me when I have a headache

183. For the gallop of a white tail deer running away

214. For the kind cashier at the grocery store today

266. For skinny Christmas trees.

309. For cleanly mopped floors- no dirt on my feet

322. for the smell of freshly washed laundry

373. For not hitting the deer with my car that was standing on the side of the road

376 for the shooting star tonight

438. for rain drops falling into puddles

450. for the beauty of Christmas lights

494. for windows in my home to let the light shine in

And I could go on and on and on. How much do we have that we take forgranted??????? We can see, we can smell, we can taste, we can walk or we can sit. Do we appreciate that there are colors in our world and that we don't just see in black and white? Do we appreciate the birds in the air or the designs of the clouds? We are BLESSED!!!

The problem is, we don't naturally see these things. We are sinful humans and our natural tendency is to be selfish and ungrateful. You will not simply wake up one day and be grateful or put other people first, it is a decision that you must make, daily! Each day (or once every several days) I sit down and write all the things I am grateful for. It is hard to start looking. For the first while I carried my book around with me LOOKING specifically for things to write down!! Now I am seeing things more and more and more. I never want to go back to who I was before! I am so grateful because God gives us gifts everyday that we don't even deserve! You will totally change your life if you stop pointing out all the things wrong with your life and instead number all of the things you have been given that you didn't even ask for!!!

Will you join me in looking for 1,000 gifts in 2020????

If so, simply grab a book, number it with one and start looking for something you have been given to write down!! Let's get 20 20 vision in 2020!

P.S. If you are interested in reading the book I am talking about, here is you a link to it. :)

This is an affiliate link. It will not cost you anymore to purchase through this link but it will help me keep my blog funded! Thanks in advance!

NEED YOUR HELP!!

noreply@blogger.com (Kyliegh) — Sun, 29 Dec 2019 03:42:00 +0000

Christmas 2019 is gone! Can you believe it that 2019 is almost over! 2020 is upon us and I need your help! Can/ will you help me?Okay so as most of you remember, I am completely redoing both this blog and my Youtube channel. With 2020 right around the corner, I want want to make sure that as I am doing my planning, that I get some of you guys' input. What types of things would you like to see on the blog? Are there any areas in your life that you feel you could use some support? I have been sharing my own personal struggles on decluttering my house, in my minimalism series but maybe that is not an area that you struggle with. I am going to continue to share what is going on in my life but I want to be here to help you with your life as well. Soooo, my ears want to hear, what do YOU want to accomplish in 2020? Please comment below and share some ideas with me!

While I wait for your answers, here is this weeks recap! Well actually since I last posted on December 14th but who is keeping tabs, right? :)

I rolled out 3 new videos in amongst all of the Christmas activities. We had 5 family gatherings! Three on Christmas Eve and two on Christmas Day! We are blessed to have family with which to gather but at times you just get worn out, ya know!? Anyway videos.

I have rolled out my series on My Minimalism Journey. In this series, I am addressing the areas of my house that have not yet been minimized. Here are those videos, in case you missed them.

Video 1: My Skeleton Areas Exposed: My Bathroom Cabinet

Video 2: My Desk Area

Video 3: Master Bedroom Closet

Video 4: My Laundry Room

And then just today I posted about my meal planning and grocery shopping process. I show you my new book "Meal Planning: So Easy it Feels Like Cheating" that is available solely on Amazon! I LOVE the book myself and I hope that it is a valuable asset to you in your menu planning as well! You can find that video here.

Okay guys so that is my week in a nut shell. Make sure you follow me over on Instagram to see pictures of me and my family in everyday life! I am on Instagram as BecomingBlameless. I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas season. Please make sure to comment below and tell me what I can do in 2020 to help your life become a little easier!

Weekly Recap- 12-14-19

noreply@blogger.com (Kyliegh) — Sun, 15 Dec 2019 02:11:00 +0000

Sooooo, this has been my first week of my changes to the blog and my Youtube channel! I am super pleased with all of the changes so far and I am excited for next week.

I encourage you to make sure you are subscribed to the blog and also to the YouTube channel (both entitled- Becoming Blameless) so that you receive notifications when I post new things! If you like what you see here and/or on the Youtube video, would you please share the info with your friends, on your wall, via email, however you can! I am doing all of these videos and posts for you guys so I want to make sure everyone who needs these videos, finds them and I need your help to do that!

In case you missed what has went on this week, here is a recap.

On Sunday, I announced what changes I am talking about. If you missed that post, you can find it here!

I also kicked of my new YouTube series about my journey to a minimalistic life. We all have areas of our home that we are "ashamed" of and in this series I show you my areas and record myself as I work through them. I am exposing all of my "skeleton" areas and getting them cleaned!!! I even encourage you to put on one of my clean with me videos and clean while I do! That intro video can be found here!

Then several weeks ago I cut off all of my long hair to short hair! I HATED IT! It looks super great on some folks but I don't like it on myself. SOOOOOO I got long hair again! You can see before and after pics here!

Thennnnnnn if you were here at the beginning of December I talked about my Advent Bible study plans and scripture writing plans! In case you missed that post you can find it here.

In continuing with my plans, God changed how I was using my Illustrating Bible. Instead I am doing an in depth Bible study of the book of Luke AND I AM LOVING IT!! You can see how I am using a free resource to complete my Bible studying in this video here!

As I have studied this week God has really been working on how I look at things around Christmas. I wrote a post entitled, "Who is Christmas For?" Here is a hint, who does God care for more? Make sure you check out this post.

Then I posted a video which is a clean with me video. Cleaning can be no fun. Having someone around who LIKES to clean can make it so much easier for us to clean. soooooo, I am going to be that friend! I am creating videos where I do everyday cleaning and combine it with some upbeat music that is a short time period. My hopes are that you can turn this video on, listen to the music and have me right there cleaning with you! I am going to be creating more videos like this so I hope to have one of every room of my house. Then we can truly "clean" our homes together!! :) This particular video is about 18 minutes. Do you realize how much you can get done when you are racing against a timer? I can't believe it! I encourage you to turn it on, pick an area to work on, and see what all you can get done in that 18 minutes! Make sure you comment in the video and tell me what all you got completed! :)

Then today, I posted yet another clean with me which is also video two in my minimalism journey series! This time I am tackling my entryway desk. This video is about 35 minutes so if you are in need of a longer cleaning session, you can turn this on and with the upbeat music, you can work till the video ends! Again, comment in the video and let me know what all you got completed!

I hope that you like the content you find this week on the blog and YouTube channel. I truly want to "do life" with you all. I would so love for you guys to comment, come over to the facebook page "Becoming Blameless", like the page- and share prayer requests, praises and more! Life is better when we do it with like minded people!

Luke Advent Bible Study

noreply@blogger.com (Kyliegh) — Sat, 14 Dec 2019 06:08:00 +0000

So I purchased a journaling Bible called the Dayspring Illustrating Bible that had the book of Luke only in it. I THOUGHT I was going to be artsy in my journaling Bible as a way to meditate on the scripture as I read through the book of Luke in December. Little did I know God had other plans.

I ended up feeling convicted to do an in depth study of the book of Luke instead. I am LOVING that I have all of the extra space in the margins to write my notes! What was funny is after I started this I thought, "Well I will just order the full illustrating Bible for my artsy journaling next year." But now that I have ordered and received it, I think I may use it to do studies like this through the whole Bible! I created a video to show you some of the free resources that I am using to do this study. I hope it also helps you in your studies! Below is the video.

I included the links for both the Bible that has just the book of Luke in it and also the whole Bible at the end of the video incase anyone wanted to purchase one. However, if you can't afford or even just don't like the Bible I used, that is okay! Just use whatever Bible you have and some notebook paper! God doesn't care about the presentation but He will be thrilled that you are spending time with him!!

The links below are affiliate links which means I make a small percentage if you purchase through these links. It doesn't cost you anymore to use them but it helps me keep my channels going. :)

Link to the full Dayspring Illustrating Bible https://amzn.to/2LQey49

Link to the Book of Luke ONLY Dayspring Illustrating Bible https://amzn.to/2PG1QG7

Who is Christmas For?

noreply@blogger.com (Kyliegh) — Wed, 11 Dec 2019 20:09:00 +0000

Have you ever wondered why God appeared to the shepherds and wise men long ago to announce the birth of the Savior?

Truthfully, I haven't. But during Advent season this year I am reading and studying through the book of Luke. I am supposed to be doing a chapter a day but I am behind. I am enjoying it soooo much and learning so much! I think I would have missed so much joy and love from God had I have just skimmed over it quickly. Here is what God showed me today.

GOD IS NOT A RESPECTOR OF PERSONS!

God first appeared to shepherds living out in the fields. Shepherds were people who cared for the temple sheep. Quite possibly the lambs that were used for the temple sacrifice. They were considered the lowest people socially and their testimonies were not even allowed to be heard in a court of law. YES! They were that low! But who did the angel appear to first? The shepherds!

The angel gave them tidings of great joy, quite literally they were the first to hear the Good News of a Savior being born into the world! THE LOWEST PEOPLE on the planet, God appeared to first! But look at their response to the good news.

"When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the Shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about. So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger." (Luke 2:15-16)

They didn't doubt, they didn't question why the angel chose them, they didn't even wait for days, they HURRIED off! The shepherds may have been regarded as the lowest but they definitely were not stupid! How ironic it is that the people who carried for the temple lambs for sacrifice were the ones who got the see the LAMB OF GOD who would take a way the sins of the World!!!! Coincidence? I think not!

But then God also showed the Wise Men!

See God gave his good news to the poor man and the rich man: to the uneducated man and the educated man; to the Jews and to the Gentiles; to one who was near and one who was far! God didn't appear to the high officials in the government or to the "popular crowd" he chose the most forsaken men alive, shepherds, and to the wisest and richest alive.

GOD DOESN'T CARE ABOUT YOUR TITLE, YOUR SALARY, YOUR OUTWARD APPEARANCE, YOUR POLITICAL AFFILATION, or anything else MAN looks at. It doesn't matter if people have turned their back on you, God doesn't! God wants for EVERYONE to be told of his Good News. He doesn't FORCE anyone to do anything with it, it is simply a gift that you have laying on the table, to take up and unwrap and enjoy. If you want it......that is. Today, God has told you the good news- the choice is will you have a shepherds heart and accept it?