Things I'm Thankful For Challenge!

Hello everyone!

So, I've decided to do this Things I'm Thankful For Challenge. Mine can be found over on my fashion blog.  Why is it not on my Facebook or twitter like everyone else's?  Well, because I write too much for that.  I am an author at heart and I tend to either write nothing when I am thanking someone for something or I am entirely too long winded.  I figured that my blog would be a better place to do the challenge.  If you want to check it out feel free to.  Here is the link for you all.

New Prussian Review

Back to Church Sunday

Terve!

Today I am going to be posting about something that is near and dear to my heart.  As most of you already know, I am a Christian and I do go to church every Sunday and on Wednesday when I can.  In a couple of weeks, September 15, it is National Back to Church Sunday.  As such, this post is going to be religious in nature.  If you find that offensive then please feel free to skip over it.  If not, please enjoy it.  Either way, I do hope that you read this and that it inspires you even just a little bit.

If you were to ask me what denomination I am I would tell you that I am an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist.  No, I am not a part of the Westboro Baptist Church group!  Not all Independent Fundamentalist Baptists are.  That would be like saying all Muslims are Jihadist which is completely and total FALSE!  I have many friends that are of the Islamic faith and they are some of the nicest people that I know.  However, a great number of my friends from college describe me as more of a “Messianic Jew”.  Why is this?  Well, I do come from Jewish ancestry and I do acknowledge Jewish holidays.  I have been known to share in Jewish festivities and I find this important.  Why?  I feel that as a Christian it is important to understand Jewish traditions to better understand the Bible and the roots of the Christian religion.  Many people forget that Jesus was a Jew.  I have also been called a Calvinist.  Why is that?  That is also an easy question to answer.  My father’s family is full of Mennonites.  Either way, I am a Baptist through and through and am perfectly happy as such.

Since I go to church as often as I do, you are probably wondering about when I was saved and baptized.  I was saved when I was 9 during Sunday School at Central Baptist Church in Ponca City, Oklahoma.  I was baptized on Easter Sunday when I was 10.  I do not have a story where I hit rock bottom, discovered that I needed Jesus in my life, went to church, and then got saved.  I have been going to church since I was a little girl.  That was the way that I was raised.  It always made sense to me.  However, the older lady that was helping with my Sunday School class, Ms.  Georgina was the one that really deserves the credit on leading me to get saved.  She answered all my questions, and as a curious child I had a ton of them, and was very patient with me.  She was an amazing lady I dearly miss her.  I was baptized the next year by our churches wonderful Pastor, John Waterloo.  That is my story.  I know it isn’t very amazing or exciting, but there you have it. 

When I went off to college is another story though.  I first went to college at Cottey College, a private all women’s college, in Nevada, Missouri.  I went to the Baptist churches in that area and could not find one that suited me.  None of them were quite the same as my home church.  So, for the first year I just did not go.  I sat in my room and read my Bible on Sunday and listened to the recordings from Central Baptist.  However, my second year at Cottey I joined choir and our choir director invited me to her church where she led their choir.  So, I gave it a try.  This particular church was the First Presbyterian Church of Nevada, Missouri.  It was a nice church.  The minister was good and I knew some of the people that attended there.  I was pretty happy with it.  However, going to a Baptist church my whole life and then switching to a Presbyterian Church was a bit strange.  The beliefs are similar, but not the same and some of those really bothered me.  It was a relief to get back home to Central Baptist.  While I attended university at the University of Central Oklahoma I started attending Forest Hill Christian Church.  Once again, this was not a Baptist church and the beliefs were slightly odd to me.  I have friends that attend that church and I did enjoy the time that I went there.  The thing that was always a bit odd to me was that it was a bit too contemporary for my taste.  There were no pews in the sanctuary and they sang a good number of more Christian pop songs, but overall it was a nice church.  However, it was not my home church.  After graduating from UCO I got back to Central Baptist and love every moment I get in that church.

I feel like it is important to have a home church.  Why?  That is a simple question to answer.   To me the people at church are like an extension of my family.  I love each of them.  We help each other out and take care of each other like a family does.  I owe a lot to my church family.  They have helped me through some pretty hard times.  While I really came out of my shell and started being less shy at UCO, I will post more about that later, some of the people I at my church helped out with that recently.  My friends from UCO helped me learn that it is okay to be a geek and that there is a group of people that will love you and accept you for that.  The people at my church in a way helped me learn that it is okay to be myself around everyone.  In fact, I would not be quite as active at Central Baptist had it not been for me, being as shy as I am,  gathering up as much courage as I could and going up to our Minister of Music and asking him if I could join the choir.  So, José, if you are reading this, thank you.  Joining the choir at Central Baptist really helped me find my place at the church.  I have made some amazing friends at Central Baptist and I cannot imagine my life without those people.  Those people helped me become less shy around everyone, not just my friends.  Go out and find a home church!  It is the best thing I can think of to have in the world outside of a loving family.

On September 15 you should go to church.  Go to your home church if you have not gone in a while.  Try a church if you do not have a home church.  If you go to your home church faithfully, invite someone to go with you!  Ask your neighbour, ask your family, ask a co-worker, ask your classmates, ask a friend.  Just go out and ask someone!  The worst they can say is no.  Do not be pushy about it.  That does not give them a good impression about the religion.  Just ask.  Remember, not even the Apostle Paul could reach everyone.  He did his best.  You should too.  Need some more inspiration?  Have you ever heard of Penn Jillette?  You know from Penn and Teller.  Yeah, he is an Atheist.  Just watch this little video that I found on YouTube.

 

Well?  A little bit more inspired?  So go out and tell people about your faith!  Invite someone to church with you!  They may not go with you, but you at least invited them.

Share your faith!  Go tell people about what you believe in.  So what if they get offended by it.  It is there loss.  It does not matter what you believe in, if you truly believe in it why would you not want to let people know?  I believe in God and that he sent his only son, Jesus Christ, to die for the sins of all mankind.  I am grateful that he did so.  I would love it if everyone else believed the same as me.  I invite people to go to church with me whenever I can.  Just because you go to church does not mean you are obligated to join.  In fact, every church that I have been to have been very kind and welcoming even if I just visited them one time.  Even if you are from a different faith, visit a Christian church on September 15.  If nothing else, it might help you understand your Christian friends a bit better.  You are not committing yourself to that church or to the Christian faith by simply visiting.

Until next time my lovelies!  Stay lovely and blessed!

Some Questions to Answer! A.K.A. Why My Spelling and Some Phrases I Use are "Weird" to Some of You

Hello everyone! I have a post for you all that is amazingly not about food.

So, I have had several people ask me about my spelling. My favorite time has been when I had a person come up to me at college and tell me that I was spelling things wrong or that I was calling things by the wrong name. All I have to say is, oh silly American English. So, today I am taking a break from my usual posting to clear up some terms and spellings that people keep telling me are incorrect.

First things first. Where was I born? Not in the Commonwealth! Amazingly I was born in the middle of the United States to my wonderful Mother and Father that are of Oto-Missouria/Dutch/Prussian/Scottish/English decent. So, how do I end up sounding like I’m British rather than American? Well, it comes from learning my English from people that use Oxford English. *sigh* For the longest time my teaches and professors thought I grew up overseas. Oh well. That’s life.

Next: the questions that I get the most. “What is up with you adding a u to various words?” and “why do you keep spelling the word color wrong?” I am not spelling colour wrong. To me you all are spelling colour wrong. I spell it the same way that I have always spelled it. The same thing goes with flavor, labour, honour, and neighbour. Also, I sometimes people think that I spell words like centre, litre, and theatre wrong. No, that’s how the English spell the words center, liter, and theater. Sometimes I spell things like practise instead of practice or connnexion rather than connection. Most of the time I spell things like catalog this way: catalogue. That’s just one of my quirks. I’m not spelling it wrong. I’m spelling it right…in the Commonwealth.

Also, some of the phrases that I use in my everyday life are more British than they are American. For example, I often ask people if they would fancy a cuppa. Most of the time I end up with people looking at me strangely. Of course growing up in Oklahoma asking someone if they want a cupppa tea isn’t that far of a stretch and people there just look at me like I’m abbreviating the sentence and then finish it with what they want. When being asked if you fancy a cuppa, what a person is asking is if you want a cup of hot tea. Speaking of tea, when being asked how one takes their tea or coffee what you are being asked is do you want cream, milk, sugar, or nothing in it and not what kind of cup you want it in. In a lot of places outside of the States it isn’t uncommon for people to put milk or cream in their tea. I do this all the time. For a long time my boyfriend thought I was drinking coffee until he notice the tea bag in my empty cup. For those who would like a new type of tea to try I would recommend PG Tips. It’s delicious. I enjoy it quite a bit. I always have a box at work and at home so that when I feel the need for a cuppa I have it available. I also use my mobile not my cell phone. For the ladies, and this relates back to one of my previous fashion posts, I wear tights regardless of if they are called pantyhose. It weirded my boyfriend out when I started talking about ice lollies. Those are popsicles for those who don’t know.

I could go on and on, but alas, I have so many things to get done today that I must cut my post shorter than what I would like. I will try to start posting little random tidbits at the end of my post though or explain things that may be unfamiliar to those who were not raised by Europeans.

Until the next time!