Life Update

Hello Everyone!

Wow it seems like forever since I last write a post for this blog. I may have forgotten how to do this. So much has happened since my last post titled Seasons of Change. As you probably noticed the header changed. I felt it was time to give the blog a new look that really represented me and what I stand for. So I hope you like what I came up with.

You are probably wondering if I'm going to start blogging regularly again and as much as I would like to that just isn't in the cards right now. However I do plan to start up again this fall. I have some really exciting changes for this blog and where God is taking it. So please be sure to check back.

Just a little update. While I have been gone I am still writing. I've been writing once a month for Daughters of the Deep and occassionly for my church blog. Outside of writing I have been very involved with my church volunteering at Anthem which is our new young adult college age ministry. I'm so excited to see what God has in store for my generation.

The big news is that I am writing a book. Yes you read that right. I AM WRITING A BOOK!!! God has been calling me to do this for a while now and I finally took the plunge. As of right now I don't have a date for when you will be able to read it but hopefully within the next year. I will say that this book is a very personal story of how I dealt with grief. I don't want to say too much just yet. So stay tuned for more updates on that.

As I am planning to return to full time blogging here again this fall I would like to know what you my readers would want to see more of. Do you want short devotions? Worship Wednesdays? Bible studies you can join in? Scripture writing challenges? Ways to pray God's Word? I want to hear from you.

Throughout the summer I am hoping to be more active on instagram and facebook. I will be joining in on Entrusted Bible study by Beth Moore with a very sweet friend of mine this summer and will be sharing what I learn from it on my social media throughout the summer.

Well I must end this post before it turns into a book. I pray for each and every one of you. Please let me know your thoughts and I look forward to returning this fall.

Blessings and Shalom,
Grace Mae <3 <3 <3

A Year in Review

Can you believe that 2016 is almost over? I know I can't. Did the year just start? Now we are almost done. This year for me has been the most crazy one yet. So much has happened. The good, the bad and the ugly. LOL :D 

As I have been reflecting over life and the blog this year I'd just like to write about a few highlights and events that stuck out to me. 

January started off great. I had said that it was the New Year, New Beginnings, New Me. Well that all went out the window when my grandma passed away on the 17th. 

February through March I was pretty much a hot mess. I was really grieving the loss of my grandma very hard. There were times when I just wanted to stay home and not wanting to be social. 

March came and I got to go to Winter Jam with some amazing friends, my mom and my sisters. It was an amazing concert. It really helped me bringing me back to reality. Listening and worshiping God with others were amazing. 

April came and we celebrated Easter. That's y favorite holiday after Christmas of course. It's a time to reflect just what Jesus did for us by dying on the cross. 

May was a very busy month for me. It consisted of helping with my parents business as well as working a homeschool convention booth. 

June was my birthday month and I turned 21!! I feel so old. I wanted to go to Chocolate World so that is what my parents and I did. It was so much fun. We also celebrated father's day and one of my sisters birthday. My dad's cousin got married so we had a wedding to attend which is always so much fun. I also took a job at the local pool working in the office. 

July was a super crazy month. It started off with working a ten day craft show dressed in 19th century clothing which was extremely hot! Once I got back we had a small family get together to celebrate my birthday as well as celebrate my cousins upcoming wedding. In between working at the pool before we took a trip to Wisconsin to the big EAA Air Adventure. It was very hot but so much fun. Had a great time with my parents. Lots of memories and lots of pictures. 

August consisted of a lot of fun exciting things. We celebrated my other sisters birthday. I worked at the pool before we took another trip to Missouri for two weeks. It was a crazy two weeks let me tell you. First off we got to see my sisters and go to church and lunch with them. The 24th we celebrated Dad's birthday by going out to eat Mexican. That Friday and Saturday that week I got to go to the homeschool music fest and see friends we haven't seen in three years. They had a dance on Saturday night that lasted until midnight. Barely getting any sleep that night we were up early Sunday morning to drive over an hour to church. I wouldn't have missed that for anything. My sweet sister Amber got engaged to the love of her life. I was so excited to be there when Hayden popped the question after church. If that wasn't excitement enough Monday night my best friend Jordyn who I never met in person came and surprised me with a visit. It was the best three days ever. All this excitement almost killed me. LOL :D 

September was another busy month. We celebrated Mom's birthday and my best friend Jordyn's birthday. Then we took a trip to Washington D.C. for the Value Voter's Summit with Family Research Council. We met lots of people and heard lots of wonderful speakers. I highly recommend going if you have the chance. Later that month we went to Uprise which was another Christian concert. I swear I could spend all my time at concerts. I think the rest off the month settled down some. 

October we went to a wedding in Indiana and then mostly stayed home just going about everyday stuff. 

November picked back up again. The beginning of the month we took another trip to Missouri for a Women's conference. It's was awesome. The conference was put on by Jennifer Rothchild. Then the 13th I got to go to church with my sisters and hung out with them. We went to a Rend Collective, Zach Williams, Urban Rescue concert. I got to spend the night with them and hung out that Monday. It was just what I needed. There's something about spending time with people that think and believe the same as you and that encourages you to be real and yourself. Then we had thanksgiving at my aunts house which was nice. Hanging out with family just eating and playing games. Big news was I joined the writers of Daughters of the Deep. Be sure to check out that community blog. There I write for them once a month. 

December started off with working the huge Christmas Gift Craft show. I have helped work a booth there for three years now. It's always nice seeing returning customers as well as vendors. The rest of the month I was working my butt off knitting Christmas gifts. December was a busy month here for my blog as well. You've probably noticed that I posted everyday up until Christmas. This year for Christmas I was sick with the flu. I've recovered from that now except I have a cold now. 

That my friends is a short year in review. I have big plans for the blog next year. Be sure to check back New Years Day for my post about what all is in store for the blog next year. Also make sure you follow us on Instagram and like us on Facebook to keep up with all the latest news. 

Until next year! May God Bless you today and always. 

Blessings and Shalom,

Grace Mae <3 <3 <3 

Plans for December

Yay!!! It's officially Christmas season.  

Well for me it started last Friday. I always say that the day after Thanksgiving is when we can start playing Christmas music and say Merry Christmas without being judged. I do hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving filled with family and much love. 

I am excited to share with you my plans for this month. Each day in December I plan to post something. It will vary but include things like Christmas songs, Scripture photo quotes, book reviews, articles, movie reviews, etc. I hope you all with check back each day. I will be linking all the posts on facebook but feel free to share the posts with family and friends. I am also doing an advent study which I will be sharing every now and then on Instagram. 

I pray for each and every one of you that is reading this. I hope that as we prepare for Christmas that we don't loose sight of the heart of it. Let's remember that Jesus is the reason for the season. 

Blessings and Shalom,

Grace Mae <3 <3 <3 

Fall Update and Changes

Hello Everyone,

I hope this finds you all well. It is officially fall here. The leaves have turned and its chilly out. I'm sitting here in a sweatshirt and leggings just relaxing. As you have noticed I changed the layout and design to a fall themed blog. It's been over a month since I last posted but a lot have changed for me.

One of the reasons why I haven't been blogging lately is I have been praying for guidance for the future of this blog. As I am still praying I have decided this is what God is calling me to do. I want to encourage you in your walk with God. If this blog just helps one person then it is all worth it.

Another reason I haven't been blogging much is that I am involved with a wonderful Bible study called Daughters of Grace that is by Kristin Schmucker. If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you probably have seen all the posts I've been posting about the different women we have been studying. I do plan to share about them on here sometime.

Please join me in prayer. If you have any suggestions or ideas of topics you'd like me to write about please feel free to contact me. I want this blog to reach the needs of others so let me know what you want to read. Some suggestions that I am considering for future articles are being yourself, waiting for the right person, how to be consistent in your quiet time, etc. I'd love to know your thoughts. I also am trying to plan a few exciting things as we are coming up on Thanksgiving and Christmas season.

Thank you for sticking by me and I'll leave you with this today. You are special and you are loved. You are a child of the one true King. Live your life for Him.

Blessings and Shalom,
Grace Mae <3 <3 <3

Struggle of being Consistent and Update

I'm back! Well at least I am back at this moment. Wow, life has been crazy since the last time I posted. We went on a trip to visit some friends and the internet was very limited. That's one of the reasons you haven't seen anything posted on the blog. The other reason is let me just be honest and say I'm struggling at being consistent in posting. Satan has been attacking me a lot lately and life has been crazy. I need to be more consistent in my blog posting. I'm working on it. Hopefully you all will stick with me. However, I have been praying hard about the future and the direction of my blog. I feel like the audience of my blog I need to focus more on is my generation. We need to hear the truth and dig deeper in His Word for truth, wisdom, and apply it to our lives. Join me in prayer if you will as I start thinking and planning out future posts.

Now on to the update of what has been happening in my life the past few weeks. Like I said we went to visit friends.

On the 28th of August my sweet friend who's like a sister to me got engaged after church was over. I am so thrilled and happy for her. I pray God's many blessing on her and her future husband. They are such a sweet couple. They are grounded in the Word of God and live for Him daily.

Amber you have blessed me in more ways then you will ever know and I couldn't be more happy for you and Hayden. I love you so much and glad you are my unbiological sister.  I'm so glad I was able to share that special moment with you two and look forward to your wedding.


Then late on the 29th my best friend Jordyn, her mom, and brothers surprised me with a visit and crashed at my house for two nights. We had a ton of fun and I'm blessed to have her in my life. She's my knitting buddy and best friend. We can talk about almost anything and our conversations are priceless and precious. Without her, who would make me laugh until I can't breathe, keep me focused on finishing my knitting projects and always there to remind me that I don't need to start something new. I love her so much!!!!

So there is my little update. I am at the 2016 Value Voters Summit this weekend and hopefully will blog about it sometime next week.

Until next time.
Blessings and Shalom, Grace Mae <3 <3 <3

I'm Back......A Little Update!

Hey Everyone!

So by now I'm pretty sure you all have wondered what happened to me. My last post was on June 29th almost a month ago.

Well let me just tell you I am not going to try and come up with some excuses because the honest truth is I don't have a good one. I got busy and didn't feel like I had anything to say. Believe me when I say blogging is hard work. It takes me a lot of time to come up with my posts each week.

I'm glad to be back though as I have to admit I've missed it. I feel that this blog is where God wants me to be and I pray everyday He will use me and this blog to further His kingdom.

While I was away this last month I had a lot of time to think and pray for guidance and direction. My goal is to bring you my readers and friends posts that will help and encourage you in your walk of faith.

I've been working on several articles for this blog and I can't wait for you to read them. It will be a little while on some of them but I'm sure you will enjoy them whenever I get them up and posted.

I've decided for the rest of July I am going to continue to take a little break from blogging. We will resume Meditations Mondays and Worship Wednesdays in August.

Please check back tomorrow for a Giveaway I will be doing. I'm super excited and think you will like it. Also I do have a guest article I will be posting on Monday by a sweet friend of mine. So check back when you can.

Thanks for being patient with me and until later my friends.
Blessings and Shalom,
Grace Mae <3 <3 <3

New Year, New Me, New Beginnings!

Happy New Year! As we start another year I just wanted to take some time to share with you my vision for this blog and what I am planning to accomplish this year. I titled this post, New Year, New Me, and New Beginnings.

New Year- It is a gift from God that we get to start a new year. There are so many I know that have passed away last year and didn't get to bring in the new year. I pray for their families as it is always hard to lose a loved one. For me, the new year is a blessing. On Facebook I saw someone post this quote, "Today is the first blank page if a 365 page book. Write a good one." That just stuck out to me. Life is what you make it. You can choose to be stressed or you can choose to be happy but most of all you can choose to let God use your circumstances to bring you closer to him.

New Me- Like I said in my last post I am a different person. I chose to make 2016 the best year yet. I realized that with all my problems, all my stress, all my circumstances I wasn't fully trusting God with them. I can't handle this myself. When I finally turned it all over to Him last night I felt such a calm peace. This is the year for the new me. My health is getting better and I am going to make the most of it.

New Beginnings- As we start this year I have a few personal goals. One I would like to spend more time in prayer and reading my Bible. Second, I would like spend more time with the people I love and care about. Lastly, I want to focus on trusting God more.

As for this blog, I have been praying about where I would like this to go. When I started this blog my goal was to encourage and interact with other young ladies and women. I pray that more people will read my blog this year. Here is what I have in mind for this year.

1. Continue with Meditation Mondays
2. Continue with Worship Wednesdays
3. Have a few more guest posts
4. Pray for each other

Hope everyone has a great New Year. If you have a prayer request, suggestion, or ideas of something you'd like to see let me know. I now have an email just for this blog. You can contact me there anytime. onegirlonelifeonegod@gmail.com

Lastly, as we start this new year it reminds me of one of my favorite songs. Write Your Story by Francesca Battistelli. I love that song and want it to be my theme for this blog and my life.

I'm an empty page
I'm an open book
Write Your story on my heart
Come on and make Your mark
Author of my hope
Maker of the stars
Let me be Your work of art
Won't You write Your story on my heart

 

Blessings and Shalom,
Grace Mae <3 <3 <3

New Years Eve Update!

As we say goodbye to 2015, I thought I would like to take time to review my year. As most of you know, I struggle with Chronic Lymes and Bartonella. Health has played a really big part in my year. Due to my health I feel like I have missed out on lots of things a normal 20 year old would be doing. When the year started I was just getting my health issues under control.

Now as the year is coming to an end I am feeling a little better. There's no doubt that I am a different person now then I was then. Some may think that's good and some may think that's bad, but I think it is for the best.

I've learned many things and one of them is that no matter what I am going through God has been with me. Now that doesn't mean I never got mad, felt resentment, anger, asking why is this happening to me. There were times this year that I felt I was going to break, I couldn't handle anymore, the stress was to much to bear.

One of the major changes in my life this past year was dealing with my grandma who has dementia. Now, I know what it's like to loose a loved one as many of you do as well. Most can't relate to loosing someone who is still alive that you see everyday. There were times I felt overwhelmed. It's all I can do to want my grandma back to the way it use to be. Unfortunately that will never happen.

But as the year is coming to a close, I realized that I have stayed strong, didn't fall apart all because I have God. My faith and relationship with Him has grown and I am still learning to let go and let God.

As for this blog I have goals and ideas that I think you all will like for next year. Continue to pray for guidance for me as I am trying to figure out what God is teaching me and what I am suppose to do with my life.

I will be back next year with some of my goals for this blog as well as some goals for my personal life. I am hoping to share my ideas and goals for spending more time in His word.

See you all next year! May God Bless You all! <3 <3 <3 <3

Blessings and Shalom!
Grace Mae <3 <3 <3

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

I know I am writing this to you late but a lot has been going one. Dad isn't feeling well again. He is in the hospital the last couple days and should be coming home later today.

As we start another new year what are your goals? I have several goals I would like to share with you.

1. I am planning on trying to write more of my devotional.

2. Spend more time with family and friends.

3. Work more on my Ravelry Designing/Business.

4. Write new songs.



Goals are great to have. They don't have to be big ones but even little ones count. Sometimes big goals or dreams can be broken down into small steps.

Let me know what your goals are and what you would like to read in the Meditation Mondays.

God Bless and Shalom,
Grace Mae

Life, Even Crazier, Family, and Prayers

Well life hasn't exactly gone as I have planned the last couple weeks. I had planned to post on Mondays Devotionals but it hasn't happend.

Since I last posted so many things have happened. Friday, December 13th my whole life changed. Daddy had a heart attack. He had stints put in and was in the hospital for two days. I got to stay with my friends for the weekend. Dad is home now and doing better but it is going to be a long recovery process.

I am hoping to post more often but we will see what happens. Please pray for me. I am searching for guideance with how I will continue to post to my blog. Right now I have it set as private but thinking of changing it to public as I have many friends that don't have gmail.

Christmas is next week. What are you doing? What are you favorite traditions?

I have been working on a Christmas song and hope to finish it in time. If it is finished I will share it with you next week. I have been watching movies too. Check back on Christmas Eve for a couple reviews. They are great movies and a must see.

Well I better go but thank you to my faithful followers.

Shalom,
Grace Mae

Life, Family, and Craziness.

Hi Everyone,

As you can see I didn't post on Friday or yesterday. I haven't been feeling to well and been really busy. The RMSF is really cramping my life. We are seeing a doctor on Dec. 11th in Meyerstown, PA. Hopefully he will be able to help me. We don't know what he is going to do to treat me but it may be IV antibiotics. I guess we will have to wait and find out since my appointment is so close to Christmas.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know I did. 

Thanksgiving Day we went to m Aunt Helen's house to spend time with her and her family. My little cousin Sammy and I made bracelets using the rainbow loom. (well she made them and I watched :)

We then came back to the Hanger and RV and watched movies until it was time for bed. I got some knitting done.

I have some beaded socks I am knitting for a lady who ordered them from me. They are going slow but I am hoping to have the first heel done today or tomorrow. 

Now that Dec. is here I can start to really get into the Christmas Spirit. Mom and I watched an AWESOME Christmas movie last night on Netflix. It was called Christmas with a Capital C. I highly recommend you watch it if you can. 

My friend Rebekah Morris has released a new book. It is called Triple Creek Ranch Book 1: Unbroken. It is a great story. I highly recommend all her books. You can check out her blog at: www.rsreadingroom.blogspot.com

Tomorrow, I am going to hang out with my friend Megan and her family. It should be fun. We my even do some filming for her Youtube Channel. You can check her out at: Modest Maniac username.

Thursday Dad has an appointment to get his stitches out of his head. He had to have surgery last week for basal cell cancer. It got an infection now so He is on antibiotics. If you think to please pray for him.

Friday Mom and I are working the Milkshake stand at the PA Christmas Show for the 4-H Fundraiser. It should be fun. We each get a free Milkshake. Afterwards we are going to go to the Christmas Show which has all kinds of food, arts and crafts, and shopping.

I have been writing some new songs and working on a Christmas one. I hope to finish it soon.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Starting Next Monday for our Meditation Mondays I will be telling the Christmas Story in a different way. I hope you will join me as we remember that Jesus is the Reason for this Season. I think this is going to be the best Christmas yet.

Well this is a longer post then I had intended on writing :-) So I will let you go.

Shalom,
Grace Mae