I wanted to post a poem...

But then I realized that I don't have the rights to it anymore! I won it's publication in a poetry contest! :D It felt cool to just now remember that I couldn't post it up here, I must say :) Oh well, I'll post something else :)

Have you ever been only SLIGHTLY offended by someone? I mean the kind that leaves you half chuckling, half horrified, wondering if you are angry, then thinking you aren't, then that you are depending on what time of day it is. Usually that sort of offended is brought on by a person who has had the habit of offending you before, or at least half offending you many times. After many offenses, anything iffy said by that particular person makes your automatic reaction to be, well, offense. Whereas if any other person said that same thing you would have thought it truly funny, or true, or not even paid any attention. BUT *gasp* that guy said it!!!! Now you just HAVE to think the worst of it!!!!

I had never much thought on this topic before, until a good friend brought it to my notice. Of course it is a true fact, at least for me. After all, that person had said/done whatever before and it was offensive, so why shouldn't I be offended now? But this reaction is sin. Each new offense should be treated as the first one, since the others were so forgiven.

Ephesians 4:32 ~ "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."

Matthew 18:21-22 ~ Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.

Matthew 6:14-15 ~ "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

That last one's a little scary huh?

One cannot write alone...

Writing a novel is a team effort :) I am writing the dedication for Of Shattered Things before I turn in the final copy, and had sooooo many people to thank. I'm sure I didn't cover everybody!

Thank you to:

My LORD and Savior, for giving me the passion and ability to write, and for being with me through every paragraph.

To my parents, for always encouraging me in my writing and giving fun ideas. I love you both!

To Christen Krumm, for being such an excellent writing teacher and for making sure I get my chapters written whether I wanted to that week or not. Thanks for everything Christen.

To Ethan Riley, for his amazing editing and admirable forbearance in having to read this whole novel in it's
rough state, and for always being ready and willing to give ideas, advice, and fight scene tips. Thank you,
Mighty Wordsmith.

To Laney, for being my ear to brainstorm in and my partner to word war with. Love you, bug.

And finally, for the original idea for this story and for always being a friend, I'd like to thank my sweet, talented Cherise Mabb...

I mean, Alena.

 

 

The LORD has declared it not good for a writer to be alone, and hence He has given me all these wonderful people to be helpers for me :) Thank you for all of them LORD, and for being with me Yourself! :D

Proverbs 2:1-11

My son, if you accept my words

and store up my commands within you,

turning your ear to wisdom

and applying your heart to understanding,

and if you call out for insight

and cry aloud for understanding,

and if you look for it as for silver

and search for it as for hidden treasure,

then you will understand the fear of the LORD

and find the knowledge of God.

For the LORD gives wisdom,

and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

He holds victory in store for the upright,

he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,

for he guards the course of the just

and protects the way of his faithful ones.

Then you will understand what is right and just

and fair—every good path.

For wisdom will enter your heart,

and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

Discretion will protect you,

and understanding will guard you.

Mr. Sneakypants

One bad day, David had to flee from Saul to escape his ill-founded wrath. He went to Ahimelech the priest to ask for supplies and recieved bread and the sword of Goliath.

After he escaped, Saul pitched a fit as his officials. He sat under a tree and screamed, "Listen, men of Benjamin! Will the son of Jesse give all of you fields and vineyards? Will he make all of you commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds? Is that why you have all conspired against me? No one tells me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you is concerned about me or tells me that my son has incited my servant to lie in wait for me, as he does today."

But one fellow, Doeg the Edomite, had been skulking in the shadows of the temple when David had been there. He stood up and said to Saul (I assume in a Grima Wormtounge kind of voice), "I saw the son of Jesse come to Ahimelech son of Ahitub at Nob. Ahimelech inquired of the LORD for him; he also gave him provisions and the sword of Goliath the Philistine."

Saul growled in anger and sent for the priest and his whole family to come before him. When he beheld a line of the priestly family standing before him and said, "Howdy there, priest. Why have you given my enemy provisions, and thus put yourself against me, your king?"

Ahimelech threw up his hands. "What are you talking about?" he said. "David was always your right hand man! If he's now your enemy, leave me out of it, because I have no clue what you speak of."

"Suuuuuuuuuure you don't." Saul looked at his guards. "Kill them all"

But the guards would not touch the priests of the LORD--they knew it was wrong, even though their kind had commanded it. So the king next turned to Doeg, the skulking one. "Kill them!" he screamed.

So Doeg smiled, and murdered the priest of the LORD and his family. One son of the priest escaped to tell David what had happened, and David said, "That day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, I knew he would be sure to tell Saul."

For some reason I had never noticed this guy before. Didn't remember him. But I was quite intrigued by what I found. This man evesdropped on David and the priest, told Saul, then murdered the LORD's anointed priestly family. I also wonder what all he had done before this, to earn such a reputation in David's eyes.

"He who plots evil will be known as a schemer. The schemes of folly are sin, and men detest a mocker."

Proverbs 24:8-9

Pray for me...

My heart is not 100% right towards a particular person. We shall call him/her "Sydney" because it is a guy and girl name and I have no friends named Sydney. Sydney is not someone who is close to me, nor would it be exessively GOOD if Sydney was close to me. The two of us don't cross paths very often, but it's not like I don't like Sydney. He/She just has some things that he/she does that require me going away from my fun to take care of he/she is doing. It is nessecary action and I don't really have a problem doing it. But my heart is not having the best attitude towards Sydney right now, because I know Jesus wouldn't think this way or make any form of jokes about it. It's really no biggie, just please pray that I wouldn't think/feel this way or accidentally make others feel this way either :)

A thought from my Bible study...

Remember when Isaac calls Esau in and tells him to go out and do some hunting so that he can bless him? Rebekah overhears and says to Jacob, "Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, 'Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the LORD before I die.' Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies."

This was a complete, boy-you-do-as-I-say thing. It was all her idea. Jacob obeyed, their scheme worked, and then (who knew) Esau found out and was SUPER MAD. He decided to kill his brother, but Rebekah found out about this too, and made yet another plan. She sent for Jacob and said, "Your brother Esau is consoling himself with the thought of killing you. Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran. Stay with him for a while until your brother's fury subsides. When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him, I'll send word for you to come back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?"

Did anybody catch anything funny in that? Who did she put all the blame on? I had never caught this before I did this study, but she put all the blame on Jacob for tricking Isaac! She had probably not even told Isaac it was her fault and apologized--instead she is even tricking herself and writing things off as not her fault when they get tough. I bet if somehow, someway the whole steal-the-blessing operation HAD run cleanly and nobody was furious or anything, she would have taken all the credit. Just a hunch... this girl has a few problems :)

Happy Birthday to my Marchies!!!!!!

First of all.....LANE TURNED 16!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The best-looking of the Tagg gals is growin up *sniff sniff* Lane and I have been through thick and thin together, and the funny thing is that we've done it all pretty much getting along. We don't remember any downright FIGHTS we've ever had, except when we'd beat each other up trying to get the Barbie we both wanted. I used to could beat her up whenever I liked, but we quit that when we were like, 5 and 7. She'd probably stomp me out now, I'm on my not-so-strong side right now :)

And now.....JAHJAH TURNED 9 TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! No matter how old he gets, he's still my baby. However, he is just now getting too heavy to have on my lap for long periods of time :( He was the first baby that I was really old enough to "baby", so I got really good at changing his diapers and such. He called him "Mwamwah"...a slur of "Meggy". He's in TX right now and I miss him on his birthday especially :( Talked to him this morning on facebook and then on the phone! :D

Last but not least, MY CUZ MACE IS TODAY AN ADULT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That boy and I did some wickedly crazy things as kids. What's scary is that it still tends to sneak out of us when we get together :P He would think of the bad idea to begin with, then I would be the brains of how we could carry it out. I miss living in CO and actually being able to see him.

How come we all have to GROW UP? :)

A cool passage, and something to think about if you have a minute

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

~ Romans 8:18-21

This is one pretty passage! Our creation is subjected to pain, wrongdoing, and frustration (kinda like my post below). It's like our world is trapped in a pit. But our hope is to freed and drawn out of the pit, into glorious cleanness and freedom! Praise God that He would call us His children and see fit to save us for no reason!

Also, I've a prayer request. I have this short story in my computer. Tis 4891 words long, and is called, The End Date. The long and short of it is, it is my baby. My favorite thing I have ever written. God really helped me during the writing of it and gave me some great ideas. I think I even cried while I wrote it (doesn't ever happen). Everyone that read it loved it, or said they did, and I thought it was an excellent story.

So I entered it in a Christian short story contest. Paid the entry fee, sent it in, waited patiently for the results. But no emails or phone calls. When I went on the final date to see who the winners were there was no awesome Meggy-written story...it was...a western. Are you kidding me?! And to add insult to injury, the contest people sent me a little book of all the shorts and poems that had won money that year. There was a painful lack of Meggy in that book, I noticed.

So now I'm looking for more contests that maybe will see the value of such a story. But there are problems all over the place. I want a contest that will take my story with it's current wordcount, have a good grand prize, not have an INSANE entry fee (it gets a little nuts), and give my story a shot even though it's Christian. There's always a problem. Good money-winning ones want 1500 words. 5000 worders charge a $50 entry fee. Christian ones want your publishing rights. This list goes on. Also, all contests want previously unpublished work. Say I entered my story somewhere and got like, honorable mention. I'd get like $50 and then it would be published and it would no longer be mine--no making any more money off of it or nuthin. See what I mean? This little fact makes me scared that, when I DO find a good contest, I won't win enough to be worth it. And with secular contests I know that they will be hesitant to publish such decidedly Christian material to their magazine or whatever...so even if I was better than the others, someone else might get picked and I'd have wasted my money to get in.

So, lots of fears and failures. I really want the best for this story and don't want the whole thing to come out a flop. It's probably just my own pride that doesn't want to take honorable mention and lose it's publishing rights. Still praying about what to do with it as I read it over and let others read it.

A Smart Little Guy

Watch this vid, it won't let me put it up here because this is not facebook... http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/boy-s-911-call-thwarts-attackers-18549401

Scary huh? Thank the LORD that nobody was hurt and that that kid and the guts to grab his little sister, the phone, and run to hide. Well done little buddy.

It made me think...do our littles know 911? It also made me thankful for our little peephole on the door so we can see who it is before we answer. It doesn't seem like the gunmen wanted to kill anyone, they probably just wanted money or the flatscreen TV. And they would do all that evil to get it. LORD, redeem this fallen world where children have to call 911 to be saved from their neighbors.

Lately I've been in a poetry swing...

It's actually kinda cool. I'm not sure why this is, but poetry is sometimes a really cool and artistic way of getting a point across to the LORD. I'm not the only one--it worked for David! So anyway, last night I was working on this one, with currently no title...

Lord, you are my defender

From each and every foe.

You've defeated every enemy

That sought to wreak me woe.

But now I see a new tempter,

Her like I'vve never known.

The frightening thing is that her face

Looks just like my own.

True, she has poked at me before,

but she'd been easy to shelf.

She now, somehow, has horrid power--

This version of myself.

She makes me think of awful things,

She dirties me inside.

She makes my hands displease me Lord.

It's her I can't abide.

But my God is bigger than even this monster

And He keeps me in His sight.

I will not be held captive here,

He'll save me by His might.

Lord, set a watch over my tongue,

Allow no ill to exit.

Please stop my deeds from hurting those

Who can't and don't deserve it.

But most of all, please guard my heart,

And keep it as pure as the sea.

Suffer no evil to enter it--

Please save me Lord, from me.

So ladies and gentlemen, I am proof--even if you are no good at poetry, the Lord doesn't mind. I think he likes to hear it. Nobody take this one or anything, though it's probably not good enough for anyone to WANT to take... :)

Going to see a movie today with my dear sista and maybe some friends! :D

The new women's Bible study!

The women's Bible study at church kicks off tonight! I'm excited. We're going through a book called Loved By God by Liz Curtis Higgs. It is pretty and purple-blue and I have a pen that matches it, so it looks really pretty when I write in it :) This first week, we went over this story in Genesis 27...

When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, "My son."

"Here I am," he answered. 

Isaac said, "I am now an old man and don't know the day of my death. Now then, get your weapons—your quiver and bow—and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die." Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, 'Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the LORD before I die.' Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies."

Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "But my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I'm a man with smooth skin. What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing."

His mother said to him, "My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me."

So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it. Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made.

He went to his father and said, "My father."

"Yes, my son," he answered. "Who is it?"

Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may give me your blessing."

Isaac asked his son, "How did you find it so quickly, my son?"

"The LORD your God gave me success," he replied.

Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not."

Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau." He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him. "Are you really my son Esau?" he asked.

"I am," he replied.

Then he said, "My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing."

Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come here, my son, and kiss me."

So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said,

"Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed. May God give you of heaven's dew and of earth's richness—an abundance of grain and new wine. May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed."

We dug into each of the characters in this story in depth. One thing I especially noticed looking into it--Rebekah tried to "help God out" by being deceitful and tricking her husband. Well, the LORD doesn't NEED any help from you madam, and you definetly don't need to SIN in order to assist him. And look back up at Jacob's only problem with his mom's plan. Astounding! I had never noticed that he never brought up the elementary question, "Mom, are you sure we're doing the right thing?" That boy was pretty much all in!

 

Tonight there is a group discussion and a video on it! Happyhappy!

The one that made me smile this morning

"This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all." ~ 1 John 1:5

Something about hearing this one on the radio when you're just waking up and light is peeking through the blinds is just awesome. Our God is LIGHT! The very nature of light. Before anything existed, He said...

"Let there be LIGHT!"

And there was.

And there is no darkness at all in our God. God cannot go against His nature--He cannot ever contain any darkness! We never have to worry about darkness or grief coming from Him.

I would like to take this moment to say...

The last couple days have been spent interviewing several of my big sister friends to put some more mustard in my book. The answers have been great and I appreciate all you girls! (Though you probably don't read this blog :P)

But the beginning of this project has showed me how woefully short I come from being the awesome, Christlike, confidante sissy I want to be. It also made me think of my adopted big sissy and all she is to me. So that's what I want to talk a lil bit about...

I have known my big sissy Bekah for about... 14 years now. We've been good friends with their family for just about as far back as I can remember. I held every sibling of hers that came after her...and her mother was even at the birth of many siblings of mine that came after me! We've come a long way and done so much together. We've talked about every book in creation from the time we were little to now. Most of my articles of clothing came from her while I was growing up. Then I moved to CO and left her here to deal with everybody. She did excellently, calling me and telling me about everything that was going on. Then I came back, and we've been closer than ever. We have lots of friends we're close to, but we two have stuck together even when other people got weird, grew up without us, or did something that made us sad. We share our griefs and victories. She keeps me focused on the Word, and snaps me out of it if ever she senses I'm losing concentration. She messages me just about every day. If she knows I'm sad (if I am, she pretty much knows) she makes sure to check on me extra. She calls me even though we live in the same state now, just randomly. She is always there to listen, and if there was ever an emergency when I needed her, she'd drop everything and come (I found that out a weird and funny way...she was kinda mad for a second :P). She's just like a big sister (or so I assume, since she's the only one I've ever had) and I can tell her anything without it being weird. She understands, even through my bad communication skills...she's used to it...

That's the kind of big sissy I want to be to the girls (Lane and Lou) who are closer to my age. I want them to be able to talk to me about anything they wish and to be a true friend to them.

LORD raise up an awesome big sissy in me and in all the world!

Our world is emptier than we know

Every bit of matter on earth is made up of atoms--the smallest particle of any element. EVERYTHING you can see and even stuff you can't is made up of these guys. They behave differently, making up different things, etc. But there is no escaping that atoms make up our whole world--everything we know.

But here is something very interesting to note. See the picture. Atoms are made up of a nucleus and tiny particles and electrons. Nobody is quite sure of theire precise looks because they are so tiny. But we do know that most of the atom is empty space.

Think of that! The Creator of the universe used these tiny building blocks to build earth...but it is mostly empty space.

This is just interesting to me.

All the Blessings of Life

I got this book for my Christmas :D It is called, All the Blessings of Life: The Best Stories of F.W. Boreham. Not too deep, never that shallow, always random, it is a buch of little snippets from his books and journals and such, just about a couple paragraphs each usually. This fact makes it the best book to have on the back of the toilet EVER. It gives you something to think about, but not TOO much to where you'd rather not have to mentally shovel through it just at that moment in the bathroom. Very good so far :D

The bit I read today was a little longer. It talked about a clean conscience and how it relates to sleep. Quite amusingly interesting. Boreham talked about the book Les Miserables, where Jean Valjean was robbing the good bishop whose house he was staying at. As he was creeping around and about to leave, he spotted the bishop sleeping. He quoted the book as saying, "The moral world has no greater spectacle than this, a troubled, restless conscience, which is on the point of commiting a bad action, contemplating the sleep of a just man". Then he talked about a scene in English history, when the Earl of Argyle was about to be executed. One of the traitor lords came up to the prison and asked to see his lordship. The man was sleeping peacefully, as if he didn't mind that he was going to be killed at all. The conscience of the traitor smote him and he ran out home to his family, saying, "I have been to Argyle's prison. I have seen him, within an hour of eternity, sleeping as sweetly as ever a man did! But as for me..."

Boreham wraps up his thought by saying, "(the church) has excelled in the production of heroic and magnificent sleepers. That is why I insist that every candidate for her membership should be searchingly questioned as to his ability to sleep."

Heeheehee! I found this interesting :)