A Few of My Favorite Things

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas and you were able to take some moments to breathe and soak it all up.  We had such a blessed Christmas in many ways.  I hope you did as well.  Can you believe tomorrow we will begin a brand new year?

2016.  

I can hardly believe it.  Time flies faster now than it ever has before.  The days go quicker, the nights seem shorter.  So much has happened in such a short period of time.  

It's even crazier to me that 2016 will mark 4 official years of blogging for me.  Five years since I felt The Lord's nudge on my heart to begin writing again and give a voice of encouragement to women who need it.  I remember clicking publish on my first post.  It was scary and yet so exciting.  I was stepping out in faith, trusting God with one of my dreams.  It's so neat to see His hand traced throughout my dream of writing over the last few years. Some posts have been great, others not so great.  Some were written as reminders for myself, others as catalyst's for you. 

So I wanted to have a little fun today and share some of my favorite blog posts over the years with you.  

My post, The Stop Sign is still by far my highest viewed post.  It was my third blog post.  I can't speak to the flow or format of the post, because my skill level on that has greatly increased over the years, but I can still speak to the feelings behind the post.  I still struggle with the things I wrote about in this post.  Maybe it's been viewed so much because so many of you feel the same way and struggle with the same things.  It's one of my favorites because I can vividly remember that day and the exact feeling The Lord laid on my heart.  

My "after run glow"/ The Stop Sign

The story of my oldest daughter Brooke's birth is still one of my favorites.  In The Birth of a Fighter, I share the story of our miracle baby.  Brooke will be 3 next week.  Every now and then I'll go back and read this post.  It's such a sweet reminder to me of how we started and of God's faithfulness to us during that time.  

The Birth of a Fighter/Credit: Amanda Martinsen

After Brooke was a few months old, I wrote Sometimes It's the Little Things, a post about a health condition Brooke had when she was born, but we didn't realize it.  But the post wasn't as much about her health as it was a post about seeing the little things as blessings as well.  God is in the little things.  He still is.  I love that.

Sometimes It's the Little Things/Credit: Amanda Martinsen

Another reader favorite was a guest post by my friend Phyllis Watson.  God is Always On Time tells the story of her daughter Rebecca and son-in-law Chris' adoption of their son Sam.  The message of the post is so encouraging and their story is so precious.  It has been neat to see pictures of Sam now and see how he has grown, how their family has grown.  I just love this post and I would encourage anyone who is considering adoption or interested in adoption to read this one.  It's such an amazing story!

God is Always on Time/Credit: Rebecca Autry

Another favorite of mine was a post I wrote this year called To the Women Who Hold My Babies at Church.  It was a post dedicated to the sweet women who hold my own girls at our church, but so many of you expressed the same sentiment towards the nursery workers and children's church teachers in your own churches.  Again, thank you so much for your dedication to children.  It truly means the world and you are appreciated.  

And lastly, probably my favorite post of this year was a letter I wrote to my oldest daughter Brooke, called A Letter to My Strong-Willed Child.   It was real and honest and I wrote it from a place of parenting desperation.  Maybe some of you can relate to raising a strong-willed child.  I've learned it's not for sissy's.  Whew!  But one day, as I wrote in the post, God is going to use her in His brilliant way and time. I'm sure as she grows I will enjoy going back and reading this one.  Until then though, she's still making my prayer life strong.  

  

So there you have it!  Some of my favorite posts over the last four years.  I have really enjoyed going back and reading some of my earlier posts.  Sometimes I cringed and thought I cannot believe you wrote that!  But other times, I would see glimpses of my God-sized dream taking shape.  Moments of God's faithfulness and beauty.  Moments of struggle and moments of triumph.  I love it.  

So friend, I'm praying blessings on you for the upcoming year.  Let this be the year that God becomes bigger than you ever could have imagined Him to be.  May The Word come alive to you.  May you see things from a different perspective.  May you grow in Him.  

I'll see you in 2016 friends!

4

One Word 2013

It's the last day of 2012.  Can you believe it?  So much has happened this year that has been both trying and teaching for me.  Looking back on 2012, I feel so blessed to have had some amazing things happen to me this year.  Two of the biggest things that happened were: 

I began my ministry.
                  After FINALLY obeying God's call to write and speak, I began to pursue my passion of writing and started this blog.  The speaking part God is working out in His timing I'm sure.  I was given the wonderful opportunity to join the writing team at More to Be and I have truly been blessed by that.  Being a part of such an amazing team of writers has helped me grow so much in my craft.

My husband and I learned that we were expecting our first child.
                After a struggle to conceive, the day before Mother's day I found out I was pregnant.  What an amazing journey so far.  We are expecting our sweet girl to arrive literally any day now, and we are so excited, but I will truly miss being pregnant with her.  Even though I have had complications with my pregnancy (saving that story for a devotional piece!) I have thoroughly enjoyed being pregnant with our precious girl.  I am so looking forward to meeting her though!

What were some big events that happened to you in 2012?

I've also had some trials as I'm sure many of you have had.  Life does get hard sometimes doesn't it?

Maybe this year you've faced financial trials, career trials, or maybe you've struggled in your relationships with others.  Whatever your trials were, please find comfort in knowing that God has not abandoned you or forgotten you.  He is right there with you through it all, though sometimes we feel distant from Him.  He doesn't want that distance there, we create it.

So here is my challenge to you for this New Year:  pick a word.  One word.

One word that will represent you in 2013.  I'm sure many of you have heard of this challenge before, and what a great challenge it is!

I thought about my word a lot and I finally settled on GROW.

Grow my ministry, grow myself, grow in my faith.  Grow. Grow. Grow.  

Blog button credit: Melanie at only a breath.

So what's your one word going to be?

I would love to hear your one word!  Just leave your one word in the comment section below.

Happy New Year!  May you all be blessed in 2013!

Amanda





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Goodbye 2012, Hello 2013!

Do you see what I see?

Christmas lights.  Beautiful green and red colors. Manger scenes.

Photo Credit: gizmondo.com

Do you hear what I hear?

Christmas carols.  Silver bells.  The cutting of wrapping paper.

I know you know what this means...

Christmas time is here!!

Photo Credit: Betsy Houin

Are you ready for it? 

As the Christmas season approaches I tend to forget that right around the corner is the new year. 

2013.

 

What does 2013 mean for you?

As you look back on the 2012 year, did you experience highs and lows?  How did you get through them?

What was the best thing that happened to you this year?

As Into the Beautiful Life enters into the new year, I want to say a special thank you to each one of you for reading my posts and hopefully you have received a blessing from reading them.  2013 will mark one year for this ministry for me and I plan on coming back in the new year with fresh ideas and a new blog look!

Once we ring in the New Year, my husband and I will be anxiously awaiting the arrival of our baby girl, whom we expect sometime in the first or second week of January.  I can't wait to see what the year 2013 holds for our lives, for our baby girl, and for this ministry. 

Friend, is there something you want to accomplish this coming year?  Something you feel God has called you to make a priority in 2013?

What are you looking forward to most this new year?

I pray that each of you will seek out God's will for your life in this new year.  I pray that you will be blessed in abundance.  And I pray that if you experience trials in this new year that God will bless you with whatever it is that you need to push you through them.  

May all of you have a blessed and wonderful Christmas and a great new year!  



Here's to 2013!  

Blessings friends,

Amanda 

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