The Joy Dare: Day 11

Well it has been a month of being thankful. My attitude towards things has changed a lot because I'm thinking about things more and counting my blessings, literally. So tomorrow starts a new month and a new lot of thankfulness. Still some catching up to do but am enjoying it. 

Something above you, something below you, something beside you. 

#0061 God. Don't have a photo to put but God will always be above me and watching over me. 

#0062 My gorgeous dog, Gracie. She is always so happy to see you and have a cuddle. 

#0063 Beside me today was all my study that I needed to do. I'm thankful to be able to learn new things even though it isn't always enjoyable. 

3 graces found in your friends. 

#0064 Sophie's bubbly personality that is so contagious whenever I see her.

#0065 Sara's gorgeous smile that always makes me smile. 

#0066 Renee's friendship with me and how we can share things and trust each other. 

The Joy Dare: Day 10

A gift before 9am, a gift before noon, a gift after dark. 

#0055 the blue sky that peeked in all day today!

#0056 Time to spend in bible study. 

#0057 Wavy hair after having it in a braid for 8 hrs. 

A gift that's sour, a gift that's sweet, a gift that's just. right. 

#0058 Lemons! they taste in things, but oh so sour by themselves!

#0059 My sister's yummy chocolate cake!

#0060 The best meatballs ever! I don't have a photo though :(

The Joy Dare: Day 9

A gift in your hand.

#0049 my bible and notebook. This photo was taken a few months ago when I was in New Zealand, and it wasn't in my hand when the picture was taken. but it is often in my hand. 

A gift I walked by. 

#0050 The blue sky peeking out through the clouds. 

A gift I sat with. 

#0051 I sat with my Nan and Pa today in church. 

One grace borrowed, one grace found, one grace inherited. 

#0052 One grace borrowed. My brother's guitar, I love to play it when I need an escape, a place to be by myself. 

#0053 One grace found. Little flowers that are pretty but are growing from weeds. 

#0054 One grace inherited. A ring that my great-aunt bought for my grandmother. 

The Joy Dare: Day 8

3 things blue. 

#0043 My blue bedroom that I helped mum paint for my birthday last year. 

#0044 My favourite pair of jeans. 

#0045 The best hair ribbon I have. 

A light that caught me.

#0046 Not much sunshiny light around here a the moment, but got to see the sun through the clouds on my run this afternoon. 

A reflection that surprised me. 

#0047 Seeing flower reflections in puddles. 

A shadow that just fell lovely. 

#0048 The goldfish swimming in the tank.
 

The Joy Dare: Day 7

3 gifts found in Christ.

#0037 His unfailing love. 

#0038 His forgiveness. 

#0039 His patience with us. 

3 graces from people you love.

#0040 Kieran's chilled nature. 

#0041 Renee's kind heart. 

#0042 My family's funniness.  

The Joy Dare: Day 6

3 gifts you saw only when you were close up. 


#0031 Grapes on the ground. At fist I thought they were pebbles but no, grapes. 

#0032 A rose about to unfold. 

#0033 A ladybug on my arm. Shame I didn't get a photo of it but it was such a lovely yellow one!

One grace wrinkled, one grace smoothed, one grace unfolded. 

#0034 Oscar's cute face :) 

#0035 The water at Somersby Falls.

#0036 Unfolded old letters today to read what friends wrote ages ago. 

The Joy Dare: Day 5

One thing in your bag, your fridge, your heart.


#0025 In my bag, headphones. Such a good thing when needing some time out to relax and think a little. 


#0026 In the fridge, a fallen down gingerbread house with a funny christmas eve story. 


#0027 In my heart, my family. Always there, always comforting. 


One thing in the sky, one thing from your memory, one thing that's ugly-beautiful. 


#0028 In the sky, sunshine! It always makes me happy when i see it. 


#0029 Memory. Seeing and touching snow for the first time. Its so fun!


#0030 Ugly-beautiful. The white butterflies, that are just so plain but so lovely at the same time. 

The Joy Dare: Day 4

 I'm catching up today, with 3 lots of three things. The first one is three lines you overheard that were graces. I didn't really overhear these, but I read them. Still encouraging to read though.  

#0016 'Every day may not be good...but there is something good in every day.' It actually makes me think about being thankful. 

#0017 'Sometimes God calms the storm. Sometimes He lets the storm rage and calms His child.' This shows me that God can help us in any situation. 

#0018 ' Have you prayed about it as much as you've talked about it?' This reminds me that we need to talk to God about anything in our hearts and on our minds. 

A grace in the kitchen, a grace in the weather, a grace that might never have been. 

#0019 A grace in the kitchen:

Food! I know that its a pretty obvious one but I'm lucky to live in a country where food isn't scarce because lots of people don't have that. 

#0020 A grace in the weather:

The cloud cover that kept the heat out a little bit. I love summer but sometimes the heat gets annoying. 

#0021 A grace that might never have been:

Seeing a young person helping out an old person. Its just so nice to see. 

Something you're reading, you're making, you're seeing.

#0022 Something I'm reading: Only just started but is good so far! 

#0023 Something I'm making: a new bag! 

#0024 Something I'm seeing: I read a blog called Enjoying the Small Things. I love this lady's photos and the words she writes! 

The Joy Dare: Day 3

Seems that I left this a little late today, but I didn't want to miss a day. So tonight's blog post will be a short one with only 3 gifts instead of the six I usually do to catch up. 


One gift old, new, & blue


#0013 One gift old. A box of 30 scriptures from Amanda. It was so encouraging to take some time in the day and read a new scripture. 

#0014 One gift new. A lovely year planner that I got for Christmas. 

#0015 One gift blue. Great blue post-it notes!

The Joy Dare: Day 2

A gift outside, inside, on a plate. 

#0007 A gift outside, beautiful colours in the garden. 

#0008 A gift inside, a nice comfy lounge to sit on.

#0009 A gift on a plate, bananas! 

Also, three gifts from God's Word.

#0010 Psalm 116:1 'I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy.' Reading this verse reminds me that God listens to every word that we say. 

#0011 Hebrews 11:8b 'Obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.' I read this verse and I think about the upcoming move to a new place. Abraham had faith in God about leaving where he was and went to a place where he didn't know. 

#0012 Philippians 2:3 'Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value other above yourselves.' Dad and Mum got this verse engraved onto my iPod and it makes me think of looking after others and their needs and having a servant heart. 

The Joy Dare: Day 1

Today Mum passed me a piece of paper that she printed off a webpage called One Thousand Gifts. She explained that in tough time we mostly focus on the bad things in life, when we should be thinking about some good things. I've started January's Joy Dare today, which everyday has three different things to photograph or write down about being thankful. 


3 things about myself that I'm grateful for:


#0001 I'm thankful for freckles that dot my skin.
#0002 The way I encourage others.
#0003 My singing voice.


One gift that made me laugh:
#0004 Conversations with my siblings.


One gift that made me pray:
#0005 This verse: Colossians 4:2 made me stop and pray for a minute. 

One gift that made me quiet:

#0006 This quote made me stop, be silent and just think about thankfulness.

A Reason to be Thankful

There are always things to be thankful for. Everywhere you look there are opportunities to be thankful and to share your thankfulness with others. This year, 2012, will be a year of thankfulness for me. A bad day can be changed by thinking about that one thing that made you smile, that made you stop and just thank God for the little ray of sunshine that snuck in through the rain. If you think about about a friend that your thankful for in the day, send a note or text to that person and let them know because your thankfulness can also encourage someone else to be thankful and think about what they have been blessed with. For each day, from now till the end of the year, I will post 3 photos a day and a few words about them. So let me encourage you to take some time to be THANKFUL this year.


"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful." Colossians 4:2