Just don't even think about that title, k? This year is going by so fast! *hangs on to a flagpole as the year rushes by like wind*

Well, the end of the month means it's time for a wrap-up. And boy, do I have one for all of you!

(Disclaimer: previous wrap-ups have been far more epic than this one.)

Music

So... not much this month, but I'll show you what I've got.

Reading

Movies

He's so beautiful though.

New Category: Book Haul!

Writing

(I love the two of them. In case anyone was wondering, this is the guy from a previous snippet who was always having to watch himself so he wouldn't be murdered every time he walked in a room.)
While I found some great banter in Watched, none of it really works on its own and I don't think it'll be too good to share it here yet anyway. That draft is turning into a massive mess (although coming up from here they'll be running for their lives with Lucas and Bryce so... things could get very interesting. Very very interesting. XD)

Life

• I got a spot on the newspaper staff at the online school through which I'm taking math this school year. I'll be doing one article a month on apologetics, so I'll make sure to post a link here to that article!
• Speaking of math.... my summer math class is... we'll just say that math is not my forte. D':

• Math does this to me.

  
  
• The retreat I took to learn about the pro-life movement was amazing. 
• I am going on a road trip this August to see the eclipse! So excited!
• School starts on August 14th. Starting out light--just Italian language class-- but I'm probably still going to die. Help.

Hey, everyone! I have a small announcement today, in lieu of an actual post, because my brain is fried. And... yeah.

If you've been following my blog/paying attention for any amount of time, you'll have noticed that I tend to post three times a week: Tuesdays (which of late have been exclusively my Fruit of the Spirit post), Thursdays (which seems to tend towards random posts), and Saturdays, which tend to be more review style posts. That was the schedule I've had for quite a while now (when I started my blog I was just posting whenever I felt like it and my sanity suffered because of that.)

Well, the school year is coming, much sooner than I'd like to think. My school starts on AUGUST
14th. Someone save me. And between all my honors classes, extracurriculars, etc, I won't have time for three posts a week anymore.

Don't worry! I won't be abandoning my blog. Nothing of the sort.

For the rest of the summer (meaning until about mid-August) I'll be posting two times a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays. I may take a hiatus for the second half of August, and then return in September. At that point, my schedule will shift. I may be irregular for a while as I try to figure out what the best days of the week will be for me, but it will definitely not be three posts a week.

"But what will we do without you?" you say.

Well, for one thing I will be posting occasionally (along with hordes of ridiculously talented people) over at the new Rebelling Writing website, which will be launching on August 9th! Hope you'll head over there and witness the movement when it happens!

And: I'm not abandoning you completely. I'll still be here, once or twice a week. It just won't be as massive a quantity of posts. :P

Well, that's all for today! Hope you all have a great day and God bless you!

Again: Please, don't comment on the title of this post. Just don't. XD

The focus of today's post is:

Goodness? Are we not saved by grace and therefore not beholden to works?

Yes, yes we are. And yet we must do good things anyway.

Allow me to explain.

Your parents tell you that they'll get you ice cream if you can wash all the dishes and babysit your younger siblings. You agree because you want the reward. However, you don't have to do this in order for them to give you dinner, a roof over your head, and a good education (hopefully. If you do, something is seriously wrong with your family.) That's just built in because you know that your parents love you.

But you (again, hopefully) don't just do what you're told to because you want a reward. You do it because you love your parents and you want them to be happy.

This is why we obey God- why we are good, if you will.

It's because he saved you and me and he did everything to get us here and he does not require us to keep working to be saved but to trust that his grace is enough. (Wow, that last sentence was controversial. Unintentionally so. O_O) There's nothing more we can do to save ourselves. All we can do is trust that we are saved and keep growing in the knowledge of Christ.

But the response to this is that we now have a duty and privilege of obeying our Father. We are called to do the right thing, and we do it because he loved us first and gave us the capacity to obey in the first place.

Goodness is a gift we give to our Father. It's like a four-year-old scribbling something with crayons as a gift for his father who provides everything for him. It's worth next to nothing; it's no work of art. But to his daddy it is priceless. That's how we should view our gifts to our Father.

Worth nothing on their own... but through Jesus, worth everything.

So Mary over at Sunshine and Scribblings was a dear and tagged me for the delicious-looking Cookie Book Tag!

Basically, there's supposed to be eight kinds of cookies, and you pick a book that matches each prompt. It will be fun! It will be beautiful! And you will enjoy it immensely!

Here goes:

Chocolate Chip // A book that never gets old

Also the Hunger Games (duh), Lord of the Rings (which is a strong contender for my favorite fantasy series of all time), and quite a few other books I've read in my life. I don't remember them all at the moment.


The best kind.

Two of my favorite books! Whoever would have guessed???



But there are so many of them!!!!
Several of the above books confused me so much: Heartless, Moonblood, Wingfeathers... But the two strongest contenders for this category are:


Obviously, Mockingjay confused me in a bad way and the Girl who Could See confused me in a good way. Someone help. I'm still reeling over the endings of these two.

Gray
Blue (I don't remember your URL, sorry :P)
Catherine
Christine
Ivie
and Audrey

No obligation to do the tag, of course, but if you want to and I didn't tag you... please, feel free!

Faith cannot do intros.

Now that that's out of the way:

Hello, everybody! Today's post is inspired by binge-reading some truly stellar Christian fiction and my firm belief in the lack of truly good, moving Christian fiction. For a while now I'll be doing a series on good books and series that have Christian truths, Christian beauty, and a real presence of God, while maintaining a level of true quality. I can think of a few of those just off the top of my head, but we'll start with just one for now:

The Wingfeather Saga!

• It features a cast of unforgettable, fully-developed, very HUMAN characters.

Look, Jack- the kids in this one are beyond real. They squabble like siblings (hint: they are siblings), but that doesn't grate the way it can in some books. Janner, arguably the MC, is such a real person, and I love him. His humanity shines through at every step. He's always there for his younger siblings, no matter how much he may gripe and complain about it. Tink/Kalmar, his younger brother, wrestles with inner demons that are very relatable, while still fantastic enough to keep this book securely in the world of fantasy. Leeli, their little sister, is very much a little girl thrown into things too big for her, and while her struggles and humanity is a little less developed than her brothers', she's still an incredibly well-done character.

And the cast of supporting charies! From Nia, the kids' strong and quiet mother; to Peet the Sock Man, a loony bin who may hide more beneath the socks on his arms than anyone realizes; to Podo, the kids' ex-pirate grandfather; all the way to the Stranders of the East Bend and the guildsmen of the Hollows, the characters are as real as the world they inhabit. Which leads me to the next point...

• The world is built from the ground-up. It makes sense, it's very well-developed, it's just plain amazing. 

• The emotion. My stars. If you need something to smack you in the feels, this is the series for you.

The first book in this series is kind of a silly, ridiculous children's book, which is part of its charm IMO. But the second one launches so many emotions and feels onto you that you will not be prepared for it, no matter how much someone tells you. And by the third and fourth books... just don't. Even. Go there. I like my heart burned and bleeding, please. Especially when the characters do things that you scream at them for, and then do something that makes you just sob your little eyes out for them. Someone help me because I am drowning in these books. If you couldn't tell.

• A slight disclaimer:

If you can't get into the first one, I understand. It's kind of childish. It's not got a standard tone for epic fantasy. It occasionally forays into the superfluous. The stuff that I mention above is not as prevalent. BUT push through it.

Because by the second book, Andrew Peterson has found his niche. While he excels at writing funny songs (Matthew's Begats, Alien Conspiracy, and Loose Change, as a few examples), he also writes songs that are some of my top favorites of ever. Music that makes me long to go home, that makes me cry and feel emotions that I didn't know were there half the time (because when it comes to music and such I am an emotionless piece of lettuce. [I.E., Come Back Soon, Three Days Before Autumn, and Don't You Want to Thank Someone.])

The same holds true with his books. Humor and emotion run hand in hand throughout this series, and while the first book may not show that as much, the later three definitely do.

Please, if you're looking for wholesome Christian fiction, go try these books. Part of the reason these characters are so real is that they have real trials and struggles. When they are faced with decisions they frequently take the wrong path. Then they deal with the consequences of evil that they chose. It's real, it's human, and it's sometimes uncomfortable to read about. But in Janner, Tink, and Leeli, their mom and grandpa, and their friends, we see ourselves.

And the Maker watches over all of them and ordains everything that happens.

Buy it on Amazon

Buy it from the Rabbit Room (AP recieves the most money this way)

When I sat down to try to come up with something about this, I initially had nothing. After all, aren't kindness and love kind of the same thing? What more could I say about this?

But the more I reflected on it, I realized how different they are. And that there is quite a bit more to say about kindness.

Because, see, kindness isn't just love. It requires love in order to happen, just like love requires kindness. But it's not the same thing at all.

Kindness, in short, is this: doing unto others as you would have them do to you.

While love is looking at someone and doing for them what you know they can never hope to repay, kindness can and often does look at what you'll get out of it. Not because of selfishness, but because you would want, one day, to be fed by the people in the soup kitchen to whom you volunteered your Saturday morning, if you were homeless. You would want someone to come visit you in the hospital. You want someone to really think about what they're going to get you for Christmas and show you how much they care when they give it to you.

Understand, there's no room for selfishness in kindness. You don't do it and think only of the reward. You do it for the sake of serving the person to whom you are being kind.

But at the same time, it's not so bad to think, afterward, of the fact that you've impacted more than one person. Yourself and another. Countless others, depending on who you've helped. If you talk to a girl sitting by herself and are a friend to her, you have no idea how many people you'll impact if she was, say, contemplating suicide or something and the fact that you were there convinced her not to. If you feed someone who's starving, their family won't lose them in the near future.

And if you do the ultimate act of kindness and invest your time and emotions in sharing the gospel with someone...

Well, the impact is eternal. For both you and them. Even if someone doesn't drop to their knees and profess the name of Christ the second you witness to him, the word of God does not return void.




No matter how long it takes, something will come of that witness.

Kindness gives you the ability to change someone's life. Kindness is not overrated, nor does it make you weak and foolish. It has the power to change lives, to make a difference for the kingdom of God, to gain you treasure in Heaven.

And that's what you have to remember in all of these fruits of the Spirit:

If you do them, it is for God's glory. Not yours. Don't do it so that you can hear the people around you saying, "Man, she's such a nice person!" or "That boy spends so much time helping people! Why can't my kids be more like that?" It's a struggle. I feel it all the time. It's so easy to do the right thing so that you can earn praise for yourself.

But don't fall prey to that temptation.

To God alone be the glory.

• How do you decide which project to work on?

• How long does it usually take you to finish a project?

• Do you have any routines to put you in the writing mood?

• What time of day do you write best?

Then, when I've just gotten into the swing of things and the words are pouring out, my parents hold their council and come to this evil conclusion:

So... yeah. My best writing tends to happen between three-thirty and five-thirty or so. 

• Are there any authors you think you have a similar style to?

I aim to make my writing style similar to Douglas McKelvey's (he wrote a book you've probably never heard of, The Angel Knew Papa and the Dog, which I've actually never read, but he's got a short story in the new Wingfeather Tales Short Story Anthology and it's beautiful. I cried so hard reading it, and it was so complexly written. So... yeah.) 

I would also love to be able to write with the density of Anne Elisabeth Stengl. The Tales of Goldstone Wood... they're so beautifully written. 

Basically, I want my writing to be a combination of McKelvey's structure, Stengl's description, Andrew Peterson's emotion, and Jane Austen's timelessness. So... yeah. 

• Why did you start writing, and why do you keep writing?

• What’s the hardest thing you’ve written?

• Is there a project you want to tackle someday but you don’t feel ready yet?

• 
  

• What writing goals did you make for 2017 and how are they going?

• Describe your writing process in 3 words or a gif!

I'm back!
I'm now going to do a post on patience. The patience that you had to endure as you waited with bated breath for me to return from my hiatus. Post on the reason for it coming soon!





(Note: this is my first time attempting to use Canva, so this is almost certainly terrible. If you have any advice for how to make it better, by all means, tell me!)


We usually refer to patience as the practice that allows you to sit in the waiting room at the dentist and not complain, or maybe what you have to exhibit as you wait for Marissa Meyer's new book (hint, hint...) Unlike the common usage of the words belonging to most of the fruits of the Spirit, this one is actually quite true. We all need to get better at our patience when we have to wait for something we want to do (or not do.)
What is longsuffering?

It's when you are dying inside and you press on. It's when the cause that keeps you up late at night is burning you out and you need a break, but you have to keep going. It's when everything in life is crashing around you and you just sit there remembering the Lord's promise that he will never leave you or forsake you.

You will never be alone. 


We all need to work on this. Putting our heads down and standing in the rain when we know that there's not much by way of hope, and our umbrellas do nothing for us. I know that I struggle with this. The last couple of years for me have been full of trial and difficulty, both at home and out in the world, and every time it happens I have to remind myself every day that Jesus is enough. That I must just carry on and wait for the moment when I'm aware of the fact that he's picked me up in his arms.

Believe me, I know how it feels.

But it's a necessary trait to have.

And when you have it, and can carry on even through the worst of the trials...

Well, there's no telling what God will do. And that will bring him the glory. Which is where it needs to be. Longsuffering, like all the other fruits of the Spirit, is an exercise that we must learn to bring glory to God. When his people can stand up under the storm and give him the credit, he is glorified.

And that's why it's so important.

How are you guys doing? Chat with me! I promise I'll reply as soon as I can!

~Faith

Peace and joy, in my opinion are the two very hardest of the Fruits of the Spirit to incorporate into our daily lives, and also- the hardest to define. Peace isn't being calm and zen-like, walking around in a daze, or being pessimistic and saying something like "I've made my peace with it." No, peace is a truly supernatural thing, but how do you define it?

Well, apart from the fact that it's about as hard to define this as it is to define love (aka, nigh on impossible), we can take a shot at it.

If peace is just a feeling, it's a good one. We can all relate to that need for comfort, no matter how independent we tell ourselves we are. Because comfort is a need, and we can't live without it.


So we speak of comfort food. We talk about our "comfort blankies," teach our kids habits that will help them feel better when they're sad, and try to make our lives "self-sustaining."

Enough with it already, Christians!

It's okay to have an idea of what you'll do when there's trouble. To have a routine that helps you. But the thing is that if we lean too hard on those, they become idols and we don't care about Jesus anymore. And when the routine falls apart- as it inevitably will- we do too. Because what will we do without our routine and our set schedule?

Just so you know, I'm being very pointed and talking to myself here. Because I personally struggle with this, over and over and over. Every day.

Jesus is our only true source of peace. When the sky gets black. When five small children are screaming in your house simultaneously. When everything is crashing around you. When you walk through the valley of the shadow.

He's been through it all, and he will never leave or forsake you.


And he has overcome the world. (John 16:33)

Rest in him. He will never let you go.

~Faith

Like, wow, you guys. Just wow. How is half the year gone already????

It's been a VERY eventful month for me, and July promises to be the same! I can't wait for some of the adventures in store. :)

But this is a recap post, so, without further ado, I present to you...

Music

Reading

and


*goes to visit tech support (aka Dad)* *returns* 
I would definitely suggest you buy those books! I won a fantastic giveaway over at Allison's website, receiving a free copy of The Reluctant Godfather, and it's such a sweet little book.

Movies

Writing

LE SNIPPETS

Life

• Lots of renovations on my house. We're getting doors and floors replaced all over the place and the floor needs grout and every time somebody says "grout" this is what comes to mind:
• 
  
  
• So yeah. 
• The little girl who's been staying with us is going to a different host family, so prayer for her, please. 
• I got to visit with my best friends quite a bit. That makes me very happy. I'm technically an introvert, but... I love people. #Paradox #ExtrovertedIntrovert
• It's ice cream season here in New England and I'm loving it.
• Some of our friends from North Carolina visited and it was great to see people from home. 
• I'm preparing for some travel coming up! I'm going away for a weekend ALONE and it'll be my first time flying completely alone. *gulp* Prayers appreciated!

So there you have it! My month in a nutshell!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a dystopia to write. Peace out.

How was your month? Are you being swallowed in your attempt to undertake trying NaNo this month? Someone send help! Chat with me in the comments!