“Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.” Psalm 40:4-5
I know what you are thinking… “It’s not Wednesday… it’s Thursday!!!!!” Well, truth be told, this post was typed out on Wednesday buuuuuuut published on Thursday as I needed to finalize a few photos before posting. 😉 Here we are, the FINAL day of 2020! Nearly every New Year’s Eve my mind always goes back to “Y2K” and I can’t help but smile! 😊 Does anyone else remember that and the unknown and panic we faced at the turn of the Millennium?? Here we are 21 years later, sustained by God!! So, as I savor the final moments of 2020, I stand in awe of God’s faithfulness, mercy, and grace. Aaaand today not only am I going to be posting the Random Question Wednesday Questions but I get to share a little peek into the December days via Random photos!!
💁🏼♀️New to the blog? You may be wondering what Random Question Wednesday is!!! Wednesday is the day I get to know YOU a little better with a few very random and very light-hearted questions and a “would you rather”! Fill in your answer in the comment section below and if you’ve had a random question you’ve wanted to ask me, feel free to leave your question after you’ve left your answers to my questions. I strive to give a completely honest reply to your most random questions! 👩🏼💻
Ready, set, GO!!🙌🏻🥳 QUESTIONS:
1.) What year stands out most in my memory and why?
2.) Do you do anything special for New Year’s/New Year’s Eve?
3.) As we end 2020, what has the Lord taught you through this year??
Would you rather Stay up to ring in the New Year or go to sleep early and wake up to a fresh new year?
Many random photos posted below! It’s been a full and blessed month. So thankful for time spent working hard, enjoying family, and visiting friends. God is good!!♥ ️
My mom and younger sisters diligently worked on Family Christmas Cards this year! ☃️✨💗
My Grandpa C. and brothers have been working on a special project! Once completed, I will share a bit more with y’all! 😃
Christmas Day was such a fun time together! Lots of Gifts were exchanged and good food enjoyed. 💖
We had a wonderful time visiting Anna, Lydia, and Mrs. D. this past week! Ann gifted us with the most thoughtful Christmas gift. Such a blessed and fun time!! Thank you Anna + family for having us over. 😍
And the newest additions to our Tiny Farm. Fluffy and as cute as can be, LeLe and Max will be our Guard dogs for our flock once they have grown a bit! 💖🐶
“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ”
Philippians 1:6
Actually, if you hadn’t mentioned it, I probably wouldn’t have even noticed that it wasn’t Wednesday! :D Thank you for giving us a peek into your December. I loved the pictures! <3 Your newest farm additions are adorable!!
1.) I guess I'd have to say that at the moment 2020 stands out most because it is the most recent. ;) Another year that stands out a lot is 2017. That was the year I went to Europe with my siblings, and I have so many amazing and….exciting memories from that trip. :)
2.) We sometimes do special things for new years. It just depends on the year and what is going on. Today is just an ordinary day for our family, but we might do a puzzle or something tomorrow.
3.) This year God has been teaching me the importance of slowing down life and taking time to think about what is truly important and make those things priority instead of just "being busy."
Would you rather Stay up to ring in the New Year or go to sleep early and wake up to a fresh new year?
I enjoy staying up to ring in the New Year, but I don't always enjoy how staying up late makes me feel the next day. I don't know if I will stay up tonight, but I have a feeling that I might!!
Happy New Year, Rachel! Thank you for all of the blogging encouragement you have shared in 2020!
I am glad I am not the only one who has lost track of days this week!! 😉 I think the holidays have thrown me off and I keep on having to look at the calendar to see what day of the week it is. 🙊😁 So glad you loved the photos!! All really random but I enjoy sharing.♥️🤗
Your European trip was such a fun trip to hear about and see photos from. Definitely will be a memory you all cherish for the rest of your lives! So glad you had that opportunity!! 😍
It was perfect puzzle weather here today, wasn’t it?! ☃️ Sooooo cold and wet!
Your lesson for 2020 is a beautiful one! I think so many think “redeem the time” means be as busy as humanly possible! BUT it is important to remember quality over quantity. Or as you put it, Priority over just being busy! May the lessons you learned in 2020 be used in 2021.🧡
😄🥳 Well, either my New Year text woke you up or you did indeed stay up to ring in the New Year!!! 😂😂😂
Happy New Year, Bethany!! It’s been an honor to blog through 2020 and I look forward to sharing God’s faithfulness throughout 2021 right here as He allows.😁🙏🏼
O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.-Ps 90:14
Ohhhhh!!!!! What a FUN post!!!! 😁
To answer the questions…..
1.) Hmm…….I would probably have to say either 2015, or this year (2020), because both were filled with so many TREMENDOUS BLESSING, and many different challenges (some health related, some family related, plus many others that wouldn’t fit into any one category) BUT in EVERY SINGLE CHALLENGE, the Lord has proved my desperate need for HIM, His goodness, His sovereignty, His faithfulness and His tender care for me more and more. The Lord is SO GOOD, so FAITHFUL!!!! Thanful for each challenge that the Lord has used to bring me closer to Him!
2.) We don’t usually do much for New Year’s Day/Eve 😅 we normally just spend time with eachother, sometimes play board games! But I’m super thanful for the time spent with eachother remembering the many ways the Lord has blessed us this year! 😁
3.) Oh! The Lord has taught me so much though this year!!!! One major thing I’ve learned from Him is my need to trust in His control over all things, knowing that HIS will is far better than anyone else’s. And patience is another thing He has been teaching me. Lots of things have happened this year that have required a LOT of patience!
Hmm…. This last one is hard 😆 You know I’m an early bird AND a night owl, so I could quite easily do both 🤣 but if I absolutely had to choose just one, I suppose I would choose to stay up late 🤷🏻♀️😂
LOVE all the pictures!!!!!! Looks like you’ve had quite the eventful month! 😉
Aww, we all say “you’re welcome, and THANK YOU (!!!!!!!!!!!) SO MUCH (!!!!!!!!!!!!) for coming over!!” We all had such a wonderful time with your family, and are SUPER thankful for each one of you, and the time spent with eachother! 😍😁👏🏻
And I simply cannot leave without saying how ADORABLE those puppies are!!!!!!! 😍😱😍 Sooooooooo precious!!!!!!! 😍 Love the names, too! 😁 I’m sure they’ll be fabulous guard dogs once they’re bigger! 👏🏻
Such a wonderful post, Rachel!!!! I was so encouraged by the verses you shared!!!! Thank you!!!!!! 💖🤗
WOW!!!! This was a lot longer than I anticipated 😂😋
Happy New Year’s, to everyone reading this!!!!!!!!! Hope this coming year is filled to the brim with blessings and memories of the Lord’s faithfulness to His people!!!! 💖❤️🙌🏻
🙋🏼♀️💜 Anna!
Oh, loved your answers for #1!!! Praise God for His good work and sanctification. Those challenging years with many trials are the sweetest I do believe as we understand in a deeper way that He is our strength and He is faithful!!!! So blessed by your testimony. 💕
Trust and patience are 2 great lessons to learn! May the Lord continue to grow you in both this new year and strengthen your heart as you surrender to His perfect will. HE IS FAITHFUL! 😊
Ha, you are my Early Bird Night Owl friend. 😉🦉
Happy Happy New Year to you, Anna!!!! Continue to seek the Lord and HIS strength!!
Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face evermore.- Ps 105:4
Happy New Year!! Loved the random pictures!!
1. 2019 will always stand out because that’s when I became an aunt for the first time! 🥰 And 2020 also, because of the special blessings the Lord brought into our life.
2. On New Year’s Eve we have started a tradition of going over to some friends house for dinner and a game night. This year was actually the first time we stayed late enough at their house to see the new year in and it was so fun!! A couple of minutes before 12:00 we started singing “I Am Resolved” and then a few seconds before we all did a count down together and rang out “Happy New Year” to each other. Then we sang more hymns together, and it was so beautiful to be lifting up praises to God in that first hour of the new year! We will definitely do that again!!
3. This year God really taught me to TRUST Him, and that He is SOVEREIGN and in CONTROL of all things!!
I would rather stay up late and ring in the new year!! And actually, I never went to sleep last night… 🙈 We stayed up to 4:00 finishing our New Year’s celebration with some movies, and my sister and I thought it would fun to go ahead and stay up the rest of the night… or rather, morning. 🙃 So, I’ve been awake for 26 hours and counting! 😛
Happy New Years everybody!!! 🎉🎉 Hope everyone has a blessed 2021!
So glad you loved the photos, Sarah!! Makes my day to hear that. 💞🤗
Your New Year’s Eve tradition sounds like a fabulous one! So glad you all could ring in the New Year together this time.🙌🏻🎉 Oh my, I hope you got some sleep!!!!!!????!!!!! 😆😅 That will definitely make this New Years’ celebration memorable.😉
Happy Happy HAPPY 2021 to you Sarah!!!!!!!! May the Lord flood your soul with perfect peace as you trust His perfect plan for your every day.♥️ HE IS FAITHFUL!!!
For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee.-Ps 84:11-12
Yay!! I love these posts Rachel!!!!😁😁
Probably either 2019 or 2020 stands out most in my memory because even though they had so many challenges God was So faithful and helped me with all my struggles and challenges!!🙂
Also, I learned SO much in both of those years and we were So busy but they were very blessed years!!😁😊☺️
Yes, for New Years we always play lots of games and us older kids and our parents always stay up late to ring in the New Year. Another thing we do is eat snacks and make our traditional Cheese Fondue and homemade Artisan bread and eat that late at night on New Years eve. 😍😁😄🙃😉 YUM!!!
The Lord has taught me So much this year but a couple things specifically are Patience, how important sibling relationships are, and to just trust Him more and more!!!😁☺️😃
I would rather stay up late and ring in the New Year because I’m more of a night owl and I love staying up late and playing games, drinking tea, talking, laughing, etc. 😁😊🙂🤗
I LOVED all the pictures!!! Esp. those darling puppies!!!! I LOVE animals and kittens and puppies are the BEST and those puppies are the CUTEST!!!!! 😍😁😍
Happy New Year everyone!!!! 😁😄😉🙂I hope your year is off to a good start!!!😁🤗😁
Well, I am so glad because I LOVE seeing your answers!! 😄🎉🎉🎉
Aw, praise the Lord!! 🧡 I am so glad you experienced His mercy and grace in a special way during the challenges you faced. He is so good to gently lead us through those challenges and teach us through them! “For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.” Is 41:13
Oooh! Your New Year’s Eve celebration sounds so fun. The Cheese Fondue sounds PERFECT!!!!!! 😍😍😍
Hehe, I am a night owl too!! 🦉😄 I hope you enjoyed staying up and ringing in 2021, Caroline!!🥳🥳🥳
I am so happy you loved the photos!! The puppies are adorable little fluff balls.🐶💕
Happy New Year to you, Caroline! May 2021 be filled with Joy, PEACE, and gladness of heart as you continue to seek and serve our Lord and Savior!! Keep your eyes set on HIM. HE is faithful!!
Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength-Is 26:4
Happy New Year in Christ, everyone! And a special thanks to Michelle, Rebekah and Emmi for making my beautiful card!!!
1. Do you have a stand-out year? I’ve lived 68 years. None have been boring. :-)
1966 – Got my sweet, long-haired Guiney pig and named him Harry
1969 – Got contact lenses and threw away my thick glasses
1971 – Graduated from High School and joined the Navy
1974 – Got married
1984 – Graduated from Northern Arizona University with honors
1985 – My husband left me for another woman and I moved to Florida
1986 – GOT SAVED!!! and started as the school secretary of my church (I still hold that job!)
2006 – My dad went home to be with Jesus
2014 – Diagnosed with cancer; had an operation
2015 – Diagnosed again with inoperable cancer; had 12 weeks of radiation
2017 – Hurricane Irma did some damage to my garage and foundation; FEMA paid for the damage
2019 – My church split; 2 pastors and over half of the congregation left, including some of my family
2020 – COVID-19, 3 loved ones died, my head pastor stepped down after 47 years, and some of my family moved
2016 – The year that stands out of all of them! It held both great sadness and great joy. Someone that I dearly love was arrested and sentenced to 12 years in prison. To help cope with the sadness, one of my nieces and I started tracing our ancestry together. I traced mine back to many European kings and queens, but one night I was surprised to find a royal line that went back beyond the birth of Christ. It kept going until it came to Zarah, the son of Tamar and Judah!! (Genesis 38:30) I was amazed and overjoyed to discover that link in my heritage to the tribe of Judah! From there, I followed the line back through Abraham, to Shem, the son of Noah, and finally all the way back to Adam!!
That year I found an additional ancestral link back to Japheth, another son of Noah. Both lines of ancestry were only 147 generations from me to Adam!!! Considering that there are only 7 generations between me and the beginning of America, consider 140 MORE generations back, then remember that the first 9 generations of mankind were amazingly long. Given those considerations, 147 generations isn’t a low number, as we might expect. This world is only about 6,000 years old, not the millions or billions of years that is the popular belief of our day!
2. Do you do anything special for New Years? My church always has a Watch Night service on New Years Eve. We have a time where families, groups or individuals can sing or quote scriptures or share in some way. This year I sang a solo that I titled, “It Was For Me He Died.” It’s an Easter cantata that I wrote and composed by the grace of God.
3. What has the Lord taught you this year? The Lord is teaching me to be gentle. People and life are fragile. Handle with care. Love, love, love, and love some more! Listen to people; let them talk. Let God be God…He is on the throne. Stop fighting Him. Stop worrying. Trust Him in everything!!! “And the peace of God, which passeth understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7
4. Do you stay up on New Years Eve, or go to bed? Stay up! Definitely, stay up! PRAISE GOD FOR ANOTHER YEAR, NO MATTER WHAT IT MAY BRING!!!!!!
So, what about you, Rachel? :-)
Sheri!! With each comment I receive from you I feel as if I get to know you better. SO SO blessed by that!! 💗💗💗
You have lived a full life!! I praise The Lord God for His goodness and salvation that He has brought to your soul. 1986 was a blessed year indeed!! 😊
I love the fact your church has a New Year’s Eve Night Service. I was actually last night thinking about how strange it was that I hadn’t heard of churches doing something like that. Refreshing to hear you all do take that night to join together in prayer and praise! 🙏🏼💗 I wish I had a recording of your solo. Sounds as if it was a beautiful blessing for those listening!!
“Stop fighting Him.” I like how you put that! I often think of Jonah and how he resisted/fought God’s will. What a mess he found himself in when he did. How often are we like Jonah? Unsurrendered to God’s will and plan? Constantly striving and fighting Him for our way instead of surrendering to His. I am reminded of Ps 46:10 as it says “Be still, and know that I am God”!!
😄🎉”Definitely, stay up! PRAISE GOD FOR ANOTHER YEAR, NO MATTER WHAT IT MAY BRING!!!!!! ” AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!
My answers?? Oh, let’s see…
1.) So many years hold a special spot in my heart + mind but the year that sticks out most in my life would probably be 1993 end-94!! Lots of changes took place that year. I would have been 4 years old! My mom started homeschooling, my Dad got involved in a ministry, I was saved and baptized, we moved for the first time, and I became a big sister which I didn’t even know was possible. Just figured I was made to be the baby of the family forever!😉🤣 Many fun, sweet, first-time memories from that year of life. ♥️😊
2.) For as long as I can remember, we’ve had “party food” which would be things like a variety of chip dips, “pigs in a blanket”, etc. and we stay up until midnight to ring in the New Year country style! 😉 Banging pots and pans and a few brothers usually set off a few firecrackers! In years past when we were younger, we’ve done a costume competition or a “Party Hat” competition. But this year we just enjoyed talking and being together!
3.) This is a hard question for me to answer as I feel the lessons The Lord began to teach me in 2020 I am still learning as we enter 2021. I am a very slow learner but thankfully I have a patient Teacher!! 😉 2020 held some good and extremely intense lessons of SURRENDER + ACCEPTANCE. Not in one specific area of life but a million little areas. Found a new gray hair? Accept it and Surrender it to the Lord! 😜 Are friendships becoming distanced or cold? Seek to mend them on your end in a godly fashion BUT then accept this change and surrender it to the Lord. Hopes, desires, and expectations? Surrender them to the Lord and accept His perfect will! With each area of life that He has shown me my need for surrender and acceptance, He has provided the grace and strength to do so.“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” These are lessons that did not disappear with the old year but are carried into the new year! In new areas of my life (and old areas) I will find the need to be surrendered to the Sovereign Lord and I will need to accept His will each and every day of 2021. But the beautiful thing I have found as I surrender to Him… in acceptance and surrender, there is peace.♥️🙏🏼 “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength” Is 26
In acceptance lieth peace,
O my heart be still;
Let thy restless worries cease
And accept His will.
Though this test be not thy choice,
It is His—therefore rejoice.
Would you rather Stay up to ring in the New Year or go to sleep early and wake up to a fresh new year? ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS stay up to ring in the new year!!!!!!!!!!!! 😉🎉
Phew, my answer was longer than expected!! Thank you for taking the time to comment and bless my heart with your answers, Sheri!! 💕
Yes, 1986 was a blessed year!!! How I struggled to surrender to God’s way of salvation, rather than my own. I prayed the sinner’s prayer so many times, and stressed out that God wasn’t answering me! I was terrified of going to hell but I didn’t know how to “turn on” the ability to believe!! I couldn’t figure out why God wasn’t saving such a wonderful, deserving, talented person like me. Oh, my soul! I sure did have THAT wrong!!!
After 3 months of struggle, I finally just gave up. I was exhausted. I wasn’t eating or sleeping anymore. It was a Sunday night, January 26,1986. My pastor had preached from Psalm 103, particularly verses 8-14. I went home and was still trying to read my Bible at 11:00 PM. Then I pushed it across the table and bowed my head. I was done fighting and striving. I finally saw myself the way God saw me…a wretched sinner, deserving of the hottest place in hell. I began to cry and in that moment, Jesus revealed Himself to me in all His marvelous, saving glory! He laid Himself down across a bottomless chasm that was stretched out before my feet, making a way through His own precious death and resurrection for me to cross over to HIS righteousness and life! I could ONLY ask Him for MERCY. I had nothing to offer. And He graciously and instantly answered me! In that very moment, I became a new creature. Old things passed away, and all things became new. I looked up at the clock. It was 11:30 PM. I felt both immeasurably humbled, and amazingly filled with such joy!! It had been so easy when it was generated by God!!!
My niece recorded me singing on her phone. If she can send it to me and the audio turned out okay, I’ll text it to you.
“Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted in the earth…” I love that verse! I put it on the matting around my wolf drawing. (The 2 wolves in the snow.) :-)
Ohhh, thanks for your wonderful answers, Rachel!! I marvel at your memory as a 4 year-old! I have only bits and pieces as I was learning to navigate this thing called life. Praise God for all of your wonderful, blessed changes that occurred that year!!!
We also used to bang pots and pans at midnight on New Year’s Eve when I was a kid! We also had a cow bell that would “wake the dead.” ;-) Our poor neighbors!
Yes, life is a journey of learning. That is the definition of life. God will always be molding us into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, as long as we inhabit our earthly bodies. And we will always be learning, falling, being picked back up, and learning some more! Praise the Lord for His loving patience!!! “We are HIS workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10 (Emphasis mine.)
I think learning to surrender our will to God’s will, is perhaps the most difficult thing, and requires dying daily to self. Not an easy thing at all.
Thanks for taking the time to answer! Loved your answers!!! :-)