Time to Celebrate!

"Let the words of my mouth,
and the meditation of my heart,
be acceptable in thy sight,
O Lord, my strength, and my Redeemer." Psalm 19:14

It seems like it was just yesterday I decided to take the plunge and finally begin to blog. I had enjoyed reading blogs for some time before that but needed to gather up enough courage to start my own. Once the Lord convinced me I could do this, I took the leap, jumped in with both feet, and started

Forever His.

My main purpose and motivation was to:

1) Make my blog a place I could testify of the goodness of God

2) Record all the many wonderful things God was doing in my life for my children & grandchildren to have as a memory and legacy of who I was and how I lived my life.

My prayer is that these posts will be like David prayed. I always want the “words of my mouth and meditation of my heart to be acceptable in His sight”. In the end, my goal is to lift up and magnify the Lord Jesus, give glory to His Name, point to the truth of His Word. Hopefully draw my readers closer to Him. If I have accomplished this in even the smallest way during this past year, than all the time, effort and prayer was worth it.

As I celebrate my one year anniversary of blogging, I'd like to take a minute to give thanks for all the special women I've met and grown to love. There are so many amazing blogs out here in the blogosphere. I gleaned so much from your awesome blogs.

Today I'd like to highlight a few that have truly ministered to me in a very personal way. In no way are these the only ones I have grown to love, but they are some of the sites belonging to dear friends that I have come to know, respect and greatly admire.

When I need a lift or a smile on my face, I know where I can always find it at Lori and my close friend Tonya’s blog. Ladies you never fail to bless me, and many times make me literally laugh out loud! What a gift of joy you have.

When I need a word of inspiration, I visit Tami, Tiffany, and Kelly. Gosh, these women sure know how to take a simple lesson from everyday life and transform it into an amazing life-changing truth! I'm so thankful for your study, steadfastness, and dedication to bless so many of us out here.

And then there are those who are so gifted at teaching and expounding on the Word of God. Whenever I visit these blogs, I leave challenged to live my life more for the Lord and hungering for a greater understanding of His Truth. Thanks Elaine, Lelia, Carmen and Laurie Ann for the awesome blessing you are to all of us. What faithful stewards you are of God's word.

When I need a word of encouragement, Cheryl and Leslie's blogs are full of great scriptures and beautiful graphics. They always have a word that speaks right to my heart, as they faithfully testify to the goodness of God in every circumstance. W-O-W!

I'm especially grateful to those women who host some incredible meme's. One of the very first meme's I participated in was Marriage Mondays over at E-mom's. What a great place to visit. She always has so much information, and lots of links to so many great sites. I sure appreciate your labors of love for us! If you have never stopped by to visit E-mom you are really missing a big blessing.

Another very special, near and dear sister, who was instrumental in helping me get my blog up and running is Amy over at In Pursuit of Proverbs 31. Gosh, she should receive the award for “MOST PATIENT TEACHER OF THE YEAR”! I could not have done this without your help Amy! Thanks so much for your continual support, encouragement, and friendship. Amy is now hosting an excellent study on the book of Proverbs 31!

There are so many others I could keep talking about, and actually rarely have I ever visited any site on this wonderful network of Christian women that has not blessed me in some way. But I need to stop before this gets way too long! So...

To celebrate my Blogaversary, I'd like to give something back to you. I'll be giving a $25.00 gift card for Bath and Body Works as a way of saying thanks for being such special blessing in my life during this past year.

Just leave a comment and I'll place your name in the hopper for a chance to win. I'll be announcing the winner this Friday, October 10th!! If you are a new visitor, please let me know!

Soli Deo Gloria—“for the glory of God alone”!