Exalting Christ, Award!

Kim, this award sums up the whole of how I want to be remembered when my days this side of Glory are done. A verse that is so dear to my heart and one that I want used in reference to my life here on earth is, John 17:4.


I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. NKJV

So, to be given this award means so much to me. Thank you! Big {{{HUG}}}.

Adding beauty onto gratefulness, you have given me a wonderful place to go and visit. The women that created this Exalting Christ Blog Award at Women to Women: Sharing Jesus, have made a true place of beauty on the web and in blogosphere. I have added them to my sidebar as I will be visiting them regularly.

Here are the Rules of this award:

1. Post the blog award in a regular post on your blog with the explanation, including the original link to WTW and the rules for passing the award along
2. Name five people (more or less is fine!) to whom you want to offer this award and link to their blogs. The blogs need to obviously exalt Christ in some manner.
3. Contact the bloggers you have named to let them know they can pick up their blog award from you.
4. Invite them to permanently display the WTW blog badge and/or the award on their blogs. The badge can be obtained on the WTW site.

Drum roll... with no further ado I list my choices.


1. Angie at Sonflower. This blog began as journal of devotions. In my opinion, Angie writes with warmth, compassion, openness and most of all the love of Jesus. She exalts Him in everything she writes.

2. Barbara at Ramblings From an English Garden.
Revelation 12:11 tells us that in defeating our enemy Jesus gave us His blood, and we exalt Jesus through our testimony*. And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die. NLT
*testimony: Proof, evidence, witness, proclamation of personal experience. The tabernacle, which evidences God's presence, is a testimony to the covenant between Him and His people. Strong's #3142

I realize that Barbara has been given this award previously. The task at hand here is to name five blogs I believe exalt Jesus Christ. I simply can not compile such a list without mentioning Barbara's blog. Please visit her blog and while you will enjoy her beautiful photo's and blog entries, I strongly recommend you go to her Subject Archive list, scroll down to "My Story" and begin reading her amazing testimony. There are 23 entries. Don't cheat yourself, take the time and go to the oldest entry #1 Introduction, and read up until you have finished. This took me several visits to her blog, but she exalts Jesus so beautifully in these candid posts about her life~ a life given to the leading of the Holy Spirit and of making Jesus Lord... not just Savior only. I am so encouraged when I read these that I have gone back and reviewed them from time to time. Barbara's blog in its entirety does also exalt, Jesus Christ.

3. Denise at Free to be Me, has a wonderful way of taking God's Word and sharing it with the blog world in such a personal and practical way. She writes economically and always has an encouraging word.

4. Melanie at The Fruits of the Spirit, though very deep an intellectual, has a passion that comes across very personal and edifying. Her love for and exaltation of Jesus Christ is not only woven through her enjoyable blog, it is who she is and represents her blog in its entirety. One my favorite entries is just here. Incidentally, the fruit of the Spirit is the subject matter the Lord laid on my heart to write a Bible study on that I mentioned earlier. So... I like her blog name, too. :-)

5. Pam at Without Fear. Pam, about herself says in her "Profile", "Daily I'm discovering the truth that "only perfect love casts out fear." Amen Pam! Faith and fear are diametrically opposed, light and dark. Light dispels darkness and her blog exalts Jesus Christ in such a way that encourages us to not fear, but to have faith in Him... whereby which we can receive His love and not live in fear. Oh, I have never posted the evilness of fear that I have had victory over. I should as it is an enormous part of my testimony ~ the crux of it actually. Keep posting Pam, we all need to hear of God's love for us through the completed work of the cross in Christ Jesus! Just a side note here, Pam enjoys reading, making cards, healthy eating and loves her family. Kindred spirits we are, I should imagine. Sisters in Christ definitely.

Blogs are listed in alphabetical order of the author's name as I would not want to try to list them subjectively. How could you?

Thank you, Miss Jean!

Apparently, Miss Jean passed this award to a few dog lovers on September 12. I have been so occupied with full time work, and still running a home and trying to have a life of some sort that I missed this until now. I was just tickled to get this.

Miss Jean, says I always have a kind word in the gracing me with this award. That really touched me. I believe my blog byline to be true, "Kind words are like honey ~ sweet to the soul and healthy to the body." Proverbs 16:24 I would like to think I practice that, and it so blessed me when she said I did. Thank you, Miss Jean.

As far as the dog lover award itself. Yes, I do love dogs, but it might not be fair to judge that by how much I love Sir Baxter, he is the best little dog, so faithful, playful and just a great and fun little guy to have around. Not too hard to love that... not to hard to love a Scottie in general!

Tomorrow, I will finally get the how to steps up for the Scottish Terrier cake.  Until then... and as always....

Blogger Award Nomination

I am really touched. Mary, has nominated me for this Blog Award. I am also pretty excited as this is my first award. Thank you, Mary. I will be passing this award on to seven others, and Mary would have been on that list had she not been the one to nominate me.

I like these awards that blogger's give and receive, because they bless the giver and bless and encourage the receiver. When I was younger, can't remember exactly... 6th~7th grader maybe, I discovered this Bible verse.

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
When it is in the power of your hand to do so. Proverbs 3:27

As I would revisit that verse through the years, I gleaned more from it and realized that what I originally learned from it was just the beginning. This verse has to do with treating others fairly and helping those in need as well. This verse is tucked in a passage of scripture that is full of just good wisdom to live by. What is relevant here though, is what God laid on my heart the first time I read it. For me the verse very simply meant not to keep anything good that I had to give, from someone that could use it. In my family, immediate and extended, being verbally encouraging, giving affirmation, or anything else that hinted of positive emotion was just not done. It wasn't that I did not have those feelings of wanting to express a kind word or display gratitude, it just was not the way it was done. Laughter was seldom, forget hugs, and appearances were important. This verse did not "change" me, it simply gave me the courage to be who I was in this area. I saw things in such a positive manner (I was often called The Dreamer, and things like "Will she ever get her head out of the clouds?" were spoken about me), and I always had it in me to want to show gratitude and tell people when I liked things they said or did. So... since I had given God's Word power in my life by that time, I began to put feet on my feelings, and step out in faith over this one little verse. I found it incredibly freeing and fun to encourage people and tell them when I saw something I thought was good, or nice, or just interesting that they did. I began sending cards and notes to people that were in the church bulletin. You know, hope you are feeling better~ congratulations on your baptism~graduation~engagement~marriage~baby, sorry for your loss~just thinking of you, just simple cards with notes. Encouragement. As a young adult some years later, someone at church suggested I start a ministry revolving around being an encouragement. We do need to encourage on another. David was so distressed and isolated from goodness, and had no one around to encourage him that he had to encourage himself in the, Lord. We can do that, God is a personal and One on one God, He seeks out a personal relationship with us, but how sad that we would never have the encouragement from others. People can be such an encouragement to each other, with just a little act of kindness. That is what these Awards are. Little acts of kindness, and I love seeing others get them, I am blessed and encouraged to now have received one... and I am excited to pass it on.

Having said all of that, I want to be sure to say right here, if I can find a Great Servant award anywhere, I am going to get it to Pam, immediately. She has been such a help to me since I moved to, Oklahoma. Thank you, Pam!

Once an award is received, the rules are as follows:

1. Put the logo on your blog
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you
3. Nominate at least seven other blogs
4. Add links to those blogs

5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

Before I list them, I will say that I realize some of you have received this Award. I just wanted to give it to you as well.

My nominees, in alphabetic order because they are equally lovely, are:

• Beehive Cottage~Mary Jane: Retro and Pink!!!
• Coffee and Chocolate~Deborah: For her devotion to her Savior, Jesus.
• For the Love of Cottage~LeAnn: Creativity, beauty and cottage style. Her love for God, and the Grace He has given her.
• Friendship Tea~Linda: Family, friends, tea and Britain.
• In the Garden with Miss Jean~Jean: Family, Pink, the antics and life of her adorable Maggie, Scottish Terriers, and I have to nominate a friend that loves Calendar Girls and Fried Green Tomatoes.
• Ramblings From an English Garden~Barbara: For sharing her beautiful country, England with the world, and more because of her faith in, her love and passion for, and worship of God, her Father, Jesus, her Savior and the Holy Spirit, her teacher and guide.
• Shropshire Girl~Sandra: The simplicity and beauty of living a good life.

I could have passed this on to so many more, but there is my list. I hope you will visit each one. I think you will like the time you spend on each little corner of the web world that these ladies call their own.

Be abundantly blessed!