Counting My Blessings

Counting My Blessings

Counting My Blessings

Day 16, Part 2 Counting My Blessings

I am thankful, Lord, for...
212 The Spring
213 Spring flowers
214 The color purple, violet, lilac, plum, and all the shades in between
215 A mind to use so I can be mindfulness about counting my blessings
216 Mindfulness
217 This day
218 Coffee
219 Time with You, Lord
220 Reading a good book
221 Inspiration
222 Helping me, Father, through this life-change-on-a-dime-moment over the last week
223 Words of comfort and inspiration found in the Bible, the Word of God

Keep Calm and...

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!

He is risen.

(Image credit: Microsoft images online 2008-2014.)

We Remember

WE REMEMBER

Today in History 1:

(Original Source: http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php)

2013 - 3 people are killed and 183 are injured after two explosions near the finish line of the Boston Marathon

2013 - 33 people are killed and 163 are injured in a wave of bombings across Iraq

Also:

1865 - President Abraham Lincoln died

1912 - The Titanic sank

Forever Changed, Always Remembered

There are dates, remembrances, experiences, and memories that are permanently stamped in my life. I do not know about you. Friday, 14 December 2012 is another one in my life. This was the day of Sandy Hook.

There are also times when you know your life is forever changed because of that moment--and it will always be remembered. 

The Sandy Hook Elementary school Shooting and Massacre is another one of this times. 

The children, and adults who died, are forever stamped in my heart. I will not forget them. Ever. 

This week will be a week spent in mourning of them--and remembering them. I refuse to go around or be happy-go-lucky, joy-joy-joy because it's the week before Christmas. Celebration of the birth of my Savior, Jesus Christ, is next week. Not this week. 

There are parents who will never see their children again. Spouses who no longer have their loved one by their side. Families and friends are experiencing loss. This makes my heart ache. 

I want the loved ones of those lost on Friday--and of those who experienced the shootings--to know that I refuse to let them walk this alone. I may not know them, but they are souls. They are my fellow Americans--and that makes them family. 

How can we celebrate and pretend like nothing happened? Is it just because it didn't happen to us, if we do? If so, we are far worse than I knew as a nation. 

Again, it amazes me how few blogs have stopped and mourned what happened. How can this be? When did we become some cold and calloused? When did we become so uncaring? 

I refuse to be glued to the TV. I will mourn in my own way. 

I refuse to live in denial and carry on like nothing has happened. It has. 

My blog posts this week will focus on dealing with loss, mourning/grieving, and how it changes us (or at least it should). 

This week will be a heavy week. But, it will make us appreciate even more why Jesus Christ was born and what He did for us--next week. 

On Friday, I heard a wise quote that I am going to live by from now on:

Silence is the enemy of healing. 

That is why this week will be a week of journaling about loss and how loss shapes and transforms our lives. 

Silence is the enemy of healing. 

How profound. 

That quote stopped my in my tracks, so to speak. 

I refuse to be silent. I want to heal. I want to help others heal as well.

Is this our problem in the USA? Have we been silent for too long? Have we been so silent, we haven't healed? 

Let's not be silent. Let us do more journaling than we ever have in our lives this week. Let us stop our silence--and do so on the page. 

Sandy Hook, you are remembered. We have been forever changed because of what happened to you. We want to support you and we mourn your loss. While we cannot imagine what you are going through, we are here for you. We refuse to go on like nothing happened. We will remember. We will not allow any of this to be in vain. We will mourn with you and remember every 14 December from now on. God bless you. 

~ Stacy Duplease

(Image Credit: Stacy Duplease. 2012.)

9/11

We will never forget.

It happened on another beautiful blue sky Tuesday morning.

(Image Credit: Microsoft Images Online.)

-- Stacy Duplease
Historical Fiction Writer
Sent from my cell.

Answered Prayer and New Year Remembrance Exercises

New Year Remembrance Exercise #6:
What prayers did God answer in 2011? List them.

New Year Remembrance Exercise #7:  

What prayers were not answered this year and you need to continue praying? These are your Prayers of Determination--or as Mark Batterson calls them, your Circle Prayers. They are your A-S-K Prayers from Matthew 7:7. The USAGC 2026 is one of those.

New Year Remembrance Exercise #8:
What did God say to you in 2011? List what you can recall and what is listed in your prayer journal.

New Year Remembrance Exercise #9: 

What did you say to God in 2011?  List what you can recall and what is listed in your prayer journal. 

New Year Remembrance Exercise #10: 

What did you study in the Bible over the last year? 

Stacy Duplease
Prayer Warrior and Faithful WriterUSAGC 2026

Email: usagc2026@gmail.com
Blog for USAGC 2026: http://usagc2026.blogspot.com
Find my books at/store: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/hisfiction 

New Year Remembrance Exercises Part 3 and 365 Memories Goal

Journaling the Year 2011:

365 Memories Goal

I hope you are starting to see a pattern here. We are trying to prayerfully journal everything we can think of regarding the year 2011. We are trying to get it put down on the page so we never forget these special memories.

Remember at this point, they do not have to be in any specific order. Just get them written down.

Once you have 365 memories, then you can stop this exercise...unless you do not want to, of course. Are we trying to remember one memory per day? Kind of. There are days when nothing happens. There are also days when too much happens. Therefore, 365 is the best number of memories to write down and remember. 

If you can only recall 100, then only put down 100. But, over the next several months, keep revisiting these exercises to see if you can remember more. 

New Year Remembrance Exercise #4:

Take out your calendar, planner, to do lists, journals, etc. Now, add to your lists. add any new memories you haven't written down yet. Warning...this will take some time. 

New Year Remembrance Exercise #5:
Take 5 minutes and write another list of your memories.

Stacy Duplease
Prayer Warrior and Faithful WriterUSAGC 2026

Email: usagc2026@gmail.com
Blog for USAGC 2026: http://usagc2026.blogspot.com
Find my books at/store: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/hisfiction 

New Year Remembrance Exercises Part 2

New Year Remembrance Exercise #3:

Again, at this point, please do not look at your calendars, planner, to do lists, or journals. That will come later.

Take out a sheet of paper and draw a heart that takes up the entire page. Now, write all of the memories from the last year that are close to your heart.

List as many memories as you can fit int he heart and write as small as you possible can. Don't put them in a list. Write them all over your heart: upside down, diagonal, up and down, backwards. Be creative. Use different colors of pen if you desire. If you finish this heart and have more to list, then repeat this exercise. 

~ Stacy Duplease

USAGC 2026

Preparing for the New Year: New Year Remembrance Exercises

As Christians, God tells us over and over again to set up monuments and to remember what we has done throughout the Bible. Therefore, it is important for us to stop and do precisely that. Let's take some time over the next couple days to do so. We will also take a couple of days to plan for the following year.

I will lead us through several exercises and let's get as many memories from the past year written down that we can.

At this point, please do not look at your calendars, planner, to do lists, or journals. That will come later.

New Year Remembrance Exercise #1:
List as many memories as you can think of in a 5 minute segment from the last year. Do not worry about order. Just write them down. Write down the good, the bad, the ugly, the indifferent, and anything else that comes to mind. Write a sentence or two at least for each memory so you can remember what you mean in 10 years.

New Year Remembrance Exercise #2:
Repeat #1 in 15-30 minutes after you did exercise #1.

Do this all day long today. Try to do at least 8 segments where you write a minimum of 15 memories per segment. Just make sure to get them written.

(Photo is from Microsoft Clipart)

~ Stacy Duplease

Sentimental Journey

I do not know about you, but I sure get sentimental at this time of year. It's not that I long to repeat the past. The past is done.

It's that I love to make memories and remember them. I also like to plan on making them.

Here's a question for you.

Do you ever get sentimental about your journey with God and what he has done in your life? 

If so, good for you! When was the last time you did that? Also, why did you get sentimental? 

If not, why not? 

Try to go on a sentimental journey for the rest of the year 2011. Remember what God and you have gone through together. Remember what he has done. What have you prayed? What answers have you received and why? This is an opportune time to prayer journal, by the way. Remember what he has asked of you. Focus on this year. Then, peek backward. What about the last two years? The last 3? 5? 10? 15? And every 5 years after that?

What blessings has the Lord given you this year?

What blessings does the birth of Jesus Christ, the Messiah and Savior, bring to you and your life?

Remember...

(Clipart is from Microsoft Clipart)

Stacy Duplease
Prayer Warrior and Faithful Writer
USAGC 2026

Sentimental Journey

I do not know about you, but I sure get sentimental at this time of year. It's not that I long to repeat the past. The past is done.

It's that I love to make memories and remember them. I also like to plan on making them.

Here's a question for you.

Do you ever get sentimental about your journey with God and what he has done in your life? 

If so, good for you! When was the last time you did that? Also, why did you get sentimental? 

If not, why not? 

Try to go on a sentimental journey for the rest of the year 2011. Remember what God and you have gone through together. Remember what he has done. What have you prayed? What answers have you received and why? This is an opportune time to prayer journal, by the way. Remember what he has asked of you. Focus on this year. Then, peek backward. What about the last two years? The last 3? 5? 10? 15? And every 5 years after that?

What blessings has the Lord given you this year?

What blessings does the birth of Jesus Christ, the Messiah and Savior, bring to you and your life?

Remember...

(Clipart is from Microsoft Clipart)

What Have You Done This Year? How Have You Been?

My last blog post was about remembering what the Lord and you have done for Jesus over the last year. This blog is about what you have done for, and how you have been with, Jesus this year.

This is another Christmas tradition I have. It's analysis of the past year (and all my Christian life), review, and of my faith.

Before I continue, let me stress that it's far more important to be with the Lord. It's having your mind and heart focused on him--than to do any action for him. That's what matters most and above all. After all, we can do all sorts of what we would call godly acts, and never have our hearts and minds focused on him. They are rote acts for a checklist. 

Or, we can be focused on the Lord and his Word all the time. That's the being component of our faith and is what matters above all else. After all, we have to work for a living--in order to have shelter and food. So, while we work, we can be focused on the Lord and his Word. That goes for all the things we have to do: housecleaning, showering, driving, exercise, etc. We can be with him while we do other things. 

That's not to say acts of faith aren't important. They are necessary. The book of James reminds us of this. However, as we do those acts, our minds and hearts must be on him do they are not just for a check-mark to sign off on our to do list. 

So, that being said, it's important to reflect upon, and analyze, the past year of our walk with the Lord and the Word of God. This is where prayer journaling comes in to the equation. If you just answer these questions in your mind, you won't remember in 6 months, let alone in a month, what was said between you and God. 

PRAYER JOURNALING

A What did I do that worked well over the last year?

B What didn't work well?
C What all did I do to bring God glory this year?

D How close did I come to praying without ceasing?

E How close did I come to praying the Word, and meditating on it, morning, noon and night?

F How much time did my calendar literally reflect I spent with my Lord and his Word?

Now, answer questions A-F about the last two years, three years, five years, and every 5 years thereafter.

(Photo is from: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/)

Stacy Duplease
Prayer Warrior and Faithful Writer
USAGC 2026

5 Days Until Christmas: Remember

It's the countdown for Christmas (as you are more than aware).

What are the things you are grateful for this year that the Lord has done in your life? 

I use Christmas as a time, not for gifts, but for remembrance. Therefore, my countdown for Christmas is generally spent trying to draw ever closer to the Lord. I try to remember everything the Lord and I went through the previous year. That's the tradition I hang my stocking on and cherish most. 

Then, the week before New Years is a week of preparation and planning for the next year. 

What have you and God experienced this year as a team? 

What has he done in your life? What about in the lives of your loved ones? 

That's the meaning of Christmas.

(Photo is from: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/)

Stacy Duplease
Prayer Warrior and Faithful WriterUSAGC 2026

Email: usagc2026@gmail.com
Blog for USAGC 2026: http://usagc2026.blogspot.com
Find my books at/store: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/hisfiction