Driving Notes

Good Afternoon! Happy Praise Thursday!

I didn’t actually plan a theme for today, but my thoughts ended up tying together! Today’s Praise Thursday was all about God’s loyalty and how much He cares for us as His children. I talked about how when you pray, God listens, and when you’re walking down a path, God is guiding you. God has given us a spirit of power and love so that we can show His love.

I talked about Lauren Daigle’s song ‘First’ and the meaning behind it.
She says “When we are finding our identity and security in Him and constantly seeking Him first, His desires first, His will first, His character first— when we are found in that, nothing else can come and takes its place. Fear can’t come and survive because His love pushes it out. God’s perfect love is what we need to focus on. Stay focused on His Kingdom. I started finding my identity in His love, and that has helped me get over my fear of man, my fear of disappointment and my striving for perfectionism.”
You can read the whole interview that Newreleasetoday did with Lauren Daigle here!

I gave a brief bit of encouragement today that came in the form of 2nd Timothy 1:7.
It says: “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline.”
My encouragement for you from this verse was that we are called to love genuinely and speak the gospel boldly and without hindrance. God is giving us the strength to share His love and His promises with the world. We are called as Christians to be the light of this world, like it says in Matthew 5:14. So there is your encouragement that you can go out, boldly, and proclaim the name of Christ.

I found a really great devotional that dealt with God hearing our prayers. People can sometimes think that prayers fall on deaf ears, but this devotional gives me assurance that God is always listening. You can read the devotion from rightfromtheheart.org in its entirety here.

I talked a little bit about Psalm 23 today, and dived a little bit deeper into a couple of my favorite verses. Here’s a link to the whole chapter of Psalm 23.
In the first it says ‘The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.’ In other versions, it says ‘The Lord is my shepherd, I shall lack nothing.’ This is really important to me because it means that since I have God as my shepherd, I lack no good thing. God is providing for me, and I should not be in want because God, in His time, will supply me with everything I need!
I also talked about verse 3, where it talks about God leading us in paths of Righteousness. Paths can be a scary concept, but God promises that He is leading us in paths of Righteousness for HIS name’s sake. The path may be dark, full of twists, turns, and uncertainty, but the one thing you can be certain of is that it’s a path of righteousness and that God is guiding you every step of the way.

Newreleasetoday got a chance to sit down with Francesca Battistelli and talk to her about her song ‘Heaven Everywhere”. They asked her what bible verses really influenced the song, she said “Over the past couple of years, my husband and I have been memorizing the Book of James. James 5:7-9 fits the message of this song: “Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!” You can read the whole interview here! 

My final encouragement for you today is that God is stronger than the powers of this world. When the world is attacking you and trying to get you to fall, just stand up and say ‘I am a child of God, and you cannot shake me. You can throw at me what you will, but my feet are firmly planted in the love of Christ, and there is nothing you can do that will shake my faith. God is stronger than the world. The creator of the universe is fighting feverishly for me! Nothing in this world has more strength or power than my God. So if the world is fighting to get you down, just let it know that God is winning.

God Bless!
– Lilly

Good afternoon!

It’s my first day doing the Drive and I was pretty excited about it! We talked about ‘Thank You Note Day’ and I gave you a rundown on how my Christmas went, as well as fun ‘Holiday Hacks’ to make the Christmas season a little bit easier for you!

Thank You Note Day…

Starting in ancient times with Egyptian and Chinese societies, these two groups would use papyrus papers to write friendly letters or letters of good luck to those they cared about. In the early 1800’s, Europeans would write social notes and deliver them to friends and family, which then eventually began the greeting card. You can read the full story on how this holiday got started, and how to celebrate it here.

Mystery Monday…
Our Mystery Monday Question was: “IN WHAT YEAR WAS THE FIRST WRITTEN RECORD OF A DECORATED CHRISTMAS TREE?” The answer? 1510!
Congratulations to our winner Megan of Mt. Vernon! She won a $5 gift certificate to Troyers of Apple Valley!
You can read up on the history of the Christmas tree at WhyChristmas.com!

Holiday Hacks…
I gave you a lot of great holiday hacks to make this season a little bit easier on you! I’ve actually used a few of these, and they’re really handy! Here’s visuals to the some of the ones I mentioned! Check out the links to these websites I got these from for more awesome Christmas hacks!
Buzzfeed, Mashable, Good Housekeeping, and Living on the Crafty Side of Life. 

1. If you have smaller, miscellaneous ornaments, they store well in egg cartons!
2. If you have some bigger miscellaneous ornaments or ornaments you’ve lost the boxes to, take and put them in red solo cups or cups of that kind. Line the cups up in a plastic tub, place the ornaments in the cups, cover that layer with a sheet of cardboard and repeat until there’s no more room! Glass bulbs fit really, really well in the cups, so I would use those for glass bulbs that I’ve lost or destroyed the boxes to!
3. You can go to the extreme and wrap your whole tree in Saran Wrap and put it up in the attic until next year if you’d like 🙂
4. When you’re done using your wrapping paper, don’t tape it to keep it from unraveling, use a toilet paper roll to keep it from unraveling instead! All you have to do is save a toilet paper roll, and cut it long ways and just slip it over your wrapping paper!
5. When using a roll of tape that isn’t on a dispenser, stick a paper clip to the tape when you’re done using it, and the paper clip will keep tabs of where the end of the roll is, so you’re not continuously rotating the roll of tape, trying to find the end! (Bread tabs and binder clips work just as well)!
6. A quick and effective way to remove sap from your skin is with toothpaste!
7. Store your rolls of wrapping paper in a garment bag! This keeps the rolls in one place and out of the way, plus you can hang it up in your closet until you need it next!
8. If you have leftover gingerbread men and don’t really want to eat them, you can put three coats of varnish on them and that will turn them into ornaments that will last forever!
9. Pin the nose on the Rudolph: All you need to make it is posterboard, push pins, some tape, black, brown and red construction paper. Black for the eyes, brown for the antlers, and red for the nose. Cut as many noses as there are children! You can also use tape instead of pushpins for younger children!

I hope you had a great Christmas! Stay safe!!!