A Christian's Journey

Me, at 14, lighting a candle during my baptism, in Cleveland, Ohio December 31, 2000

 This week's post was a tossup between this topic and my hobbies, since most people reading this know my hobbies without asking I chose to do this first (and besides, I already have the picture for it).

I grew up in a Christian home, as many of my friends and family have. My upbringing was pretty normal I guess I went to church and a little bit of Sunday school. When I was small I found church quite boring and the sermons very monotonous, I remember my dad would draw sketches in his notes to keep me and my brother and sister amused.

I gave my life to Christ when I was 9 although during Vacation Bible School, a religious oriented program for school age children, although I didn't get baptized until a few years later. I still remember taking communion for the first time, although I don't remember exactly when that was. I remember how important I felt like I was part of something bigger and how happy I was I was doing something I saw the adults do all the time.

We changed churches sometime between 2000 and 2001, when the size of our current church Worldwide Church Of God the local chapter only being about 200 members. From there we discovered Northwoods Community Church a relatively new, modern church which was still growing steadily. Shortly after my family joined Northwoods me, my brother and sister and 3 of our cousins were baptized. We were baptized at my cousins church in Cleveland, Ohio.

I was baptized on December 31, 2000 when I was 14 years old, I remember the date because it was the turn in the year and the next day was January 1, 2001. I also remember that day because it was snowing like crazy and my family drove back to Peoria in a snowstorm.

I don't think I really understood what it meant to be a Christian until a few years ago because there's a big difference between "knowing things" and knowing and trusting God and fully relying on the Holy Spirit. I grew up a lot between the time I graduated college and moved out of my parents' house, I underwent a lot of changes and had a lot of new experiences these things changed me as a person and shaped my life as a follower of Christ. In January 2013 I started taking notes at church (eventually continuously) and this has helped me greatly in memorizing Scripture and studying the Word and learning from it.

While I won't give any specific examples as many of them are very personal and are difficult to explain, but God has helped me through a lot of decisions, guided me through some tough times and blessed me greatly. I never knew what it meant to really cry out to God until a few years ago and be fully leaning on him as a child leans on a parent, knowing this, and how much God loves me has helped me so much. Every day I am grateful for that.

God Speaks Your Love Language

I recently read Gary Chapman's book God Speaks your Love Language; previously, I have read his book The Five Love Languages. I highly recommend Gary Chapman's books because they are encouraging, motivating and informative.

For those who have never heard of the concept the five love languages they are: words of affirmation, quality time, gifts, touch and acts of service. Each of these are ways we can express love to one another. Everyone has one primary love language that speaks to them more deeply than the others although we can all learn to speak and appreciate every love language. One section of God Speaks your love language is how your primary love language affects your worship and the way you receive God's love for you. I think it is very helpful for understanding why some people like and enjoy one religious activity while others don't like it at all and enjoy other kinds of religious activities.

By knowing a person's love language you discover best how to communicate love to them and you know how they are most likely to express their love to you. My love language is quality time and there are many ways I can express love through time to people and to God. I like to write letters which embody more time and effort than other quicker modes of communication. I like to take walks with people or travel together so we can spend uninterrupted time together.

-Olivia

 https://www.mygfa.org/7fq/

Favorite Books

I don't necessarily have a "favorite" book, but I have several. Even though I don't read as fast as the rest of my family I do like to read and listen to books on tape.

My first category of books I like our romances. I started reading a lot of romance novels when I was about 16, but most of them were to explicit for my liking and it took many years to find authors that wrote good stories that I really enjoyed. Most of the books I read have some element of romance even though that may not be their primary genre. My favorite author I like in the romance genre is Debbie Macomber I've read most of her books and series over the past 10 years. I like her books because for the most part they are great stories. I don't necessarily like a romance novel just because it may or may not have a sex scene and it; I actually prefer the less explicit the better as it takes away from the overall plot. I like how relatable she makes her characters as they could be just about anyone you may meet in everyday life.

The second category of books I like are mysteries. I didn't like a lot of mystery writers when I was a teenager but since I've been an adult I have found a couple I like. There is a series by author Carole Nelson Douglas called Midnight Louie which I really enjoy it's about a big black cat who helps his "owner" Temple Barr, solve mysteries and crime in Las Vegas. Another mystery writer I like is Rex Stout, my favorite character of Rex Stout's is Nero Wolfe. I like his writing within these novels and short stories because it is witty and whimsical and it gives you a sense of the time period in which the author wrote the books (primarily the thirties and forties). There is another series of mysteries (also involving cats) called The Cat Who about a couple of Siamese cats who helped their journalist owner Quill, solve mysteries.

-Tori

Women's literacy: the reason for this blog

I reflect in hindsight it probably should've posted this topic sooner, but I frankly didn't know how to write a post about it considering what I was doing was not directly affecting these women. Everything I was reading and hearing was so inspiring I had to post it here.

Here is a video about what is being done to help women learn to read and write their native language.

http://www.gfa.org/videos/player/1466475274001/

"South Asian believers are immersed in an anti-Christian society. How will they stand firm in their faith if they can't read the Bible?"

Not only do women learn to read the Bible, thereby deepening their faith, by learning to read they are protected from being manipulated by their lack of knowledge. Even churches supported by Gospel for Asia's programs are struggling because one out of 3 people cannot read.

Please donate to our campaign to support women's literacy classes: https://www.mygfa.org/7fq/

-Tori

Books: Fairy Tales and Fantasy

I like reading and I spend a lot of time doing it. One of my favorite authors is Patricia Mckillip. She has been writing fantasy for decades and has a unique and distinctive literary style. Most of her books are fantasy, a sort of adult fairy tale, although she has made a few forays into other genres like science fiction and young adult books.

Some of the things I like about Patricia Mckillip's books. Beautiful imagery. Intricate plots. Poetic languages. Intriguing developments. Her character's also deserve a mention she has a balance between women and men protagonists. She also manages to make her heroes real people who are both strong and good.

The first book I read of hers was Riddle Master of Hed an epic fantasty where she engages in extensive world building. If you are into science fiction more you could start with the novel she wrote in Science Fiction style Fool's Run. Another good starting point to reading Patricia McKillip's books is to start with her children's book The Throme of the Erril of Sherrill. It's a short and sweet story can be enjoyed by both adults and children.

-Olivia

   

A Few Thoughts on Friends part 2

Most of my memories and how my friendships grew revolve around Jeremy though. He was the one I spent most of my time with, we were practically inseparable. For about 4 years we were usually no more than an arms reach apart in class or otherwise and I didn't find out until later the school principal kept us together on purpose.

The other reason Jeremy and I formed such a close bond was because for 4 long years Jeremy was bullied by a kid in our class. It's hard to explain how a friendship develops under that kind of stress (at least that's how I perceive it) it was also unusual because I was friends with a girl named Amy who was friends with the bully. This put an unusual amount of strain on everything because the 4 of us had formed an odd sort of tight little group. I later referred to this like 2 armies under a truce, everything was fine with the 4 of us, until the boy, Robbie said something to or about Jeremy, then I would get upset and so on and so on. That's how it was most of the time in elementary school, I was more than a little relieved when we changed schools when we went to middle school.

The next stage of the progression of my school year friendships was with a girl named Heather. We were friends for a few years before we eventually grew apart when we were in college. Heather was more or less dropped into my life. The vice principal of the middle school at the time had put her at the lunch table with Jeremy and me one day and things went from there. It was kind of like how Jeremy and I had met, although we weren't instantly inseparable.

I cared about Heather very much, especially since she was the type of person I gravitated towards, quiet and kept to herself most of the time. It didn't hurt that she was also interested in art and we spent hours drawing and talking and doing the types of things teenage girls did, but my friendship with her was  different than my friendship with Jeremy.

Jeremy, Heather and I, December 2004

I think the hardest shake up in my friendships was when I graduated high school, the hardest of these being when Jeremy was accepted into a college that was in a different state. I took this pretty hard and I can't even explain how difficult it was particularly the summer he left. I think I was depressed at one point, and I went in and out of it; to this day I still can't explain why I reacted that way.

I think that first year of college was probably the hardest (for me at least) Jeremy and I corresponded via email for the entire time he was in college, but nowadays it's mostly through Facebook and text messages. I think it was the correspondence during college that probably saved our friendship because most friends from high school don't stay in touch.

Jeremy and I, May 2007. College was hard on our friendship, but we managed, to this day that still amazes me

 Today, I'm still making friends, mostly online and a few at church, and I've learned that each person I come in contact with even if I'm not particularly close to them has something to teach me even if it's only for a little while.

-Tori

Growing up with a Handicap Sibling

I didn't really think much about it; it was just the way things were. There we some things that were ingrained in me, fetching things for Tori, being quiet so she could use her voice typing program, opening doors for her, going up ramps, walking in front of her so she could navigate through crowds. I'm a naturally selfish person so I wasn't really thrilled to be having to help her get every thing, but we managed. As I've gotten bigger, I'm able to move her and her wheel chair into the car myself so if we want to go somewhere with just the two of us we can. She can't go for walks in areas without hard level ground so muddy lawns or grassy hills are out, so are most trails.

 

I still remember her going to Easter Seals although I didn't see much of it. They had all sorts of equipment and many kids with different abilities. One thing we did together was when she had therapy in the warm water pool they installed and the rest of the family could come and use the warm pool at open swim hours. The pool was about the temperature of a bath tub and mostly 3 to 4 feet deep. It had a rubbery bottom not hard concrete like most swimming pools. It was good for practicing walking and moving for mobility challenged people. And of course there was a hot tub section with massaging jets.

 

All in all, I think Tori is a fun sister to be around and its nice to do things with her and sad we don't do more.

-Olivia