Inspiration is all around us. We just need to open our hearts, minds and eyes.
Awesome benefits to going to a church is one Christian topic discussed in the inspiration category.
What wandering in woods have taught us is another way Adventures of Abby Girl has experienced inspiration. The woods have inspired us in so many ways that it is truly amazing
What makes you happy? What does make you happy? Abby girl has lots of ideas on this topic and sometimes appears on social media to answer your questions about what makes her happy and in turn, perhaps it will inspire you to think about what makes you happy
Getting a different perspective is something else that inspires. Sometimes we just need a different perspective.
Sometimes it’s not about the goal. Yes, sometimes it isn’t about the goal but the experience we have on our adventure
Kindness on the mountain. There is still kindness everywhere. We just have to be open to receiving it and then paying it forward when it happens to you whether it’s on a mountain or in the grocery store.
Read about all these topics and more in this Category of Adventures of Abby Girl
This is the third part of the road sign series. So far the message behind both a Railroad Crossing sign and a Stop Signhas been discussed. However, did you know that the falling rock zone sign can be a lot like life?
Picture driving down the road and a sign appears to your left.
It says “Caution Falling Rock Zone.” However, you are too busy in your car to even notice and drive on. The tunes are up. Your singing along. The sun is shining. But, how many times in life are we too busy to stop and see the warning that is right next to us? We are about to be crushed. Slow down. Stop. Turn-Around. Swerve. But, you don’t. Sometimes, you might be able to ignore the warning and just breeze through it. Let the person behind you take the fall. However, there are other times where we aren’t so lucky.
The rocks start tumbling down and you are crushed below. Every time you attempt to move, more rocks seem to come down. Many people are in this position right now. Just feels as if there is no way out. More and more is coming down. Stuck. Helpless. Feel buried and crushed under the weight.
There is a way out-
With God, there is always a way out. It might not seem like there is at the time. However, if he could get Daniel out of the Lion’s Den, he can get you out of any situation too. We just need to move forward. The rocks won’t come down forever. They have to stop eventually. God gives everyone the strength to push those rocks out of the way. He is always with you.
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10 NIV
Natural Human emotions cause us to panic when it feels as if those rocks are crushing us in life. However, you have nothing to fear. Why? Well as mentioned before, God is always with you.
Remember …
You can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Philipians 4:13 NIV
Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.
1 Chronicles 16:11 NIV
Lastly
When those rocks come crashing down, remember to put up your armor and be strong. The Lord can get you through it even if it doesn’t seem possible. Read your Bible, find a quiet place to speak with God. Find other Christians to talk to. Even during this difficult time, you can still go to church online. You can still find other Christians to talk to if you need to speak with someone. Our Pastor’s wife if is on top of it. She sends activities via email to all the children in our church. At the bottom, she always mentions that if you need something to ask.
Next time-
You see that falling rock sign, remember, that it’s a lot like life and you will get through it. Just go with caution and heed the warning. When and if the rocks do come down, you will be ready.
Have you have gotten to the train tracks and eagerly dashed across thankful that no train was coming? Have you ever seen the lights start flashing and a little bit of panic started growing inside you? What happens when the arm goes down and you are behind it? Here comes the parade of what feels as if 500 slow-moving box cars are passing by you. How do you feel? I bet even the mere thought is making some even a little anxious. The railroad crossing sign is a true symbol in the virtue of how to be patient. How can you apply this to your everyday life and what does patience actually mean?
Patience test alert ahead
Patience Definition-
The Oxford dictionary states that the definition of patience is that you are able to accept or tolerate delays, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious. Under it are a bunch of adjectives. One, in particular, is very familiar in the Bible and the word is long-suffering. According to the Bible long-suffering means to endure in difficulties. This word breaks down even further into two greek words, “long and “temper”. Basically this is the ability to control oneself when angry. Read more about it and important quotes about long-suffering at gotquestions.org . So what does this all have to do with the railroad crossing sign? Well, the answer is a lot.
I recently became stuck …
For about twenty minutes, completely stuck behind that crossing arm a few months back with my daughter in the car. I could have become all impatient and hot-headed. But I stopped and thought about it because my attitude would not have made those train cars move any faster. Such as in life, sometimes you just have to laugh and make the best of the situation you are stuck in at that moment. Those train cars will eventually pass and you will be free to go about your daily life. So seriously, what is being all hotted going to do besides give you a headache and remember, someone, might be watching you.
Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one who is quick-tempered displays folly.
Proverbs 14:29 NIV
All Eyes on You-
oh phooey
When we become impatient and stomp our feet like a four-year-old who didn’t get the cookie they wanted, someone might be watching. In my case, it was my young daughter in the backseat. We don’t want to portray ourselves to anyone as a miserable, fly-off the handle type of person. Instead, we need to be that person people look up and feel inspired by instead. Lead by example.
In addition, one way that people can do this is by trusting in the Lord and following the Stop Sign Principle discussed in the last part of this series. Surrender, trust, obey and praise.
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13
Be Happy
all smiles
When we are in situations where we are stuck, we need to be happy and content. As stated before, impatient behavior will not get a person anywhere faster. Look around you. Perhaps you can take that moment to think about what you are happy for or use the time to make memories with those around you. My daughter had a moment where she started talking about the poop train. It turned into a funny banter between the two of us and a great memory. What’s your happy?
I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
Philipians 4:13
Worst case scenario when all else fails, keep your eyes on Him.
Focus on God and the Bible and even if you might feel stuck at that rail crossing sign for what seems like ages, God will still be there to keep you on the right path.
I keep my eyes always on the LORD. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure.
Psalm 16: 8-9
Final Thoughts
Remember next time you try to beat the train or even get stuck, that there is no rush. The railroad crossing sign is sending a message to be patient. Don’t be quick to anger. Perhaps you are stuck there for a reason. You might miss that reason if you become all hot-headed and impatient.
We are always adventuring and traveling. Through these travels, the eyes are always wide open looking all around. I started challenging myself to relate signs along the roads traveled to faith and Christianity. Basically find a message from God in road signs.
Recently, I saw a stop sign and the word “stop” became surrender, trust, obey and praise. We must stop whatever we are doing and following these four words. In fact, I believe I’ve heard a stop sermon in the past. Here is my interpretation.
STOP
Surrender-
As Christians, we must always remember to surrender. It’s a very common theme throughout the Bible. We have to surrender our interests that are not the way of the Lord. We gain strength and understanding through the surrender. We basically are putting all our trust in him. This leads to the next point.
20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Galatians 2:20 NIV
Trust-
A person must stop and trust God.
Trust in the Lord with all your heartand lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6
We can’t truly trust others. But, we can always trust God. Sometimes things might seem really horrible. A person might feel in a place that they are never going to get out of, however, God will never leave them or forsake them. Deuteronomy 31:6 NIV
Obey–
Obeying isn’t a simple task. It is never easy to stop and obey. It’s not an easy task in our day to day lives and especially with our walk. It’s human nature to want to do things the way we want to do them. But that’s not what God wants. He does understand we are made of the flesh and will be tempted and struggle. However, when a person starts obeying, that’s when the true walk begins.
A person might have to give up worldly things, certain people that make them temporarily feel good. However, in the end, these things just leave a person broken. Remember, you can’t take worldly things with you.
Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”
Jon 14:23 NIV
If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.
Deuteronomy 28:1
25 Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. 26 But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. 27 When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.
Matthew 7:24-27
If a person doesn’t obey God, their foundation will collapse. However, when a person obeys God, great things can happen.
Praise–
Now that a person has surrendered, trusted and obeyed, they can praise. They can praise the fact that their house is built on solid ground.
Every part of our mind and body can now sing his praises. My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long.
Psalm 71:8 NIV
And through the trust that fills the heart praise can now happen! The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.
Psalm 28 NIV
We praise because we have surrendered, trusted and obeyed and even in the best of times and darkest of storms, we can still praise Him. Our lives are filled with joy and happiness.
People who have not stopped-
Throughout the Bible and history, there have been people who have not stopped. In fact, at the very beginning of the Bible Adam and Even did not STOP. God had given them everything their hearts could desire. Yet, they surrendered to temptation and ate the forbidden fruit. They listened to the snake in the Garden instead of God. They did not trust and absolutely did not obey Him when he told them not to eat from the tree. As a result, they ended up not praising God. Instead, they became aware of their nakedness and felt guilty for what they had done. Genesis 2:4-3:24
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
After this, God told them each individually the consequences for their actions before they were then sent out of the Garden of Eden creating the first original sin.
People that have stopped-
In Contrast in the very same book in the Bible, Noah did STOP. He did everything right when everyone around him chastised him for listening to God and building the boat. Noah listened to God’s instructions and obeyed Him even bringing two of every species on the boat. He listened to God when God gave very specific plans and measurements for the boats. Even what food to bring. God had many orders for Noah and he followed God’s orders. Each and everyone, he obeyed and trusted.
Everyone else drowned in the flood besides Noah and his family. However, by Noah surrendering, trusting and obeying, he was able to Praise God in the end because he and his family were spared. This must not have been easy especially because of the rain lasting for forty days and forty nights. As a person, can you imagine being stuck on a boat for that long with no land in sight? Only after 150 days floating did God let everyone off the boat.
Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.
Genesis 6-9
Final Thoughts-
STOP. Surrender, trust, obey and praise. Next time you are driving down the road and stop at that stop sign, remember these four simple words. By following them along with prayer and reading the Bible, a person can travel down a road knowing they are filled with Lord no matter what that road tosses at them.
Writer Note: Some very simple steps can be taken to find Happiness with God. But in the end, only one thing brings true happiness. Keep reading to out find what exactly that is and the journey to find our happiness.
How many reading this have been unhappy at some point in their lives? Let’s raise those hands high. How many people are unhappy at this very minute? Come on, get those hands up. We have all been there. We are humans. It happens. But, we don’t have to stay unhappy. What, is that even possible? I was sitting in church a few weeks ago in a very grumpy mood. The Pastor started preaching about joy. It was like a light went off over my head. It dawned on me when he said it’s because we still have joy because we know God. God will always be there no matter how awful life might seem. He never leaves us. So we have no reason to be unhappy because we have joy.
“Happy are the people whose God is the Lord!”
Psalm 144:15 NKJV
There are things we can do to bring happiness back.
Think about the little things in life. It might be as small as “I got up.” I do segments now and again called “Ask Abby Girl.”I ask my daughter random questions and she answers. We did a segment a while ago on happiness. I just revisited that segment now that she is four and asked her the same question. She replied without missing a beat, “mommy.” She did then flipped it and ironically said “What makes you sad?” and replied, “When daddy goes to work.” So perhaps we should bring our thoughts back to a simpler time. The innocence of a child because they come up with the most obvious, simple things that make them happy. Seriously, how many small children do we see walking around in a constant bad mood?
We can also think about why we are where we are.
Everything happens for a reason even if it seems unfair. At that moment, we might forget that and in our unhappiness miss what God is trying to show us. We must always keep those eyes open and listen all around us. Perhaps we are where we to show us something or perhaps it’s even through our experiences we can use what we are going through to inspire others. We must persevere through all that happens.
“2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” James 1:2-3 NIV
The Real World Versus The Woods
I’m a travel and adventure blogger by trade. My daughter and I meet all kinds of people. It’s funny, in the real world, we get some very sad stories. People randomly come up and share everything with me. The stories I hear can be heartbreaking or people are just plain grumpy because their coffee wasn’t how they liked it that morning.
However, in the woods, we have never met a grumpy person. Everyone seems so helpful, carefree and at peace and my daughter and I have hiked over three hundred miles in her four years of life. That’s a lot of people to meet wandering in the woods! A lot of why at least I hike is for the spiritual aspect. It’s a time when I can leave everything behind and be closer to God. When I climb a mountain, it makes me feel as if I can tackle anything life tosses my way. It seems like in the woods, people cast their worries aside and leave them at home. People aren’t really focused on materialistic things out there. This is a big source of people’s unhappiness in life.
-Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5 NIV
Perhaps we should apply the same principles we find in the woods. Remember, God doesn’t want us unhappy. He wants us to trust him. Kind of like the trust we put in ourselves to summit mountains or cross that rickety bridge.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3- 5-6 NIV
Here is the big kicker
We can do all these things to keep us happy. But, it’s just a bandaid because the true and only way we will have real happiness is through the joy of knowing Christ. We need to read the Bible. Get to know God. Trust in Him. Remember, as I said before, God will never leave you. I encourage everyone to find someone to talk to or even talk to God. Where’s your happy?
Well, as long as we know God, it will never leave you because you have joy and that’s all that matters.
“The joy of the Lord is your strength” Nehemiah 8:10 NIV
In such a plugged-in world where everything is over the internet, sometimes it’s nice to just send a little handwritten note. Recently, I found an amazing company called Basic Invite and inspiration hit. This holiday season, Adventures of Abby Girl would send personal handwritten note cards to people that impacted her or touched her life in a special way. Since our lives are all about traveling and adventure we have the ability to send notes virtually all over the world. So what would we do? We can’t send to everyone. Keep reading to find out more. This post contains sponsored material.
I recently watched a Hallmark movie called “Five Cards for Christmas.” It’s a movie where this woman had a plan to send one Christmas card to her boyfriend each of the five days leading up to Christmas. However, when he broke up with her before she could send them, she is left with five blank cards. She decides to send them to five people who have impacted her life in a positive light. So there was my idea. Abby Girl would send five pieces of personalized notepaper from Basic Invite to five people or places that have impacted her life positively. Basic Invite has cards as well as notepaper.
The Design
Basic Invite is an awesome website. It’s not overwhelming to navigate even though they have many options. Abby would pop in periodically to put in her creative ideas. I decided since our five cards would be Christmas themed, I would make four of them very festive and one in the stylings of Abby Girl and she could add some Christmas Stickers to the least festive one.
Basic Invites gives you a lot of freedom to make the cards or stationery you. There are so many colors to pick which made turning four of them extremely festive very easy. I personally love some of their very vintage feeling designs. So, I was all smiles creating the notepaper. I checked out and that was it. No hiccups no nothing. They are very informative and clear about when the product will be there and where it is in the process. I love being kept in the loop.
The arrival-
The notepaper actually arrived early! I was beyond excited to see it waiting in my mailbox and Abby couldn’t wait to send her special notes!
The packaging was classic, sleek and simple. It came in a plain black envelope. When I opened the envelope, there was a simple folder with a textured feel to it. On the inside, one side had a coupon and the other side, my five note cards and envelopes. For myself personally, presentation is everything. You can tell an excellent company that takes the time for the smallest of details presenting their products. I will definitely use Basic Invite again.
Timeless Design
Sending the cards-
“Dear Santa …”
Abby Girl, age four wrote out most of the cards herself. A lot of random letters and scribbles. But, with each unique piece of paper, she knew exactly who would be the receivers. Santa, her best friend and travel buddy JuJu, her penpal Zofia, Uncle Todd and Pine Ridge Dude Ranch which we have been to many times in 2019. If she had a thought she wanted clearly expressed, she had me write the sentence with her or for her. She loved the project so much, we now need five more cards. Our project has now turned into the ten cards of Christmas thanks to Basic Invite! Aunt Wendy, you are in the next group.
Some Facts About Basic Invite-
Almost Unlimited Colors- Basic Invite is one of the few websites that allows customers almost unlimited color options with instant previews online. Once you select a design, you can change the color of each element on the card. With over 180 colors to choose from, you can make sure the card is exactly how you want it. This is what sets us apart from almost any other online stationery company.
Custom Samples- Basic Invite is one of the few websites that allows customers to order a printed sample of their actual invitation before they place their final order. They can see the paper quality and how it will print in real life and make sure the card is perfect.
Over 40 Different Colors of Envelopes- Basic Invite has over 40 different envelope colors to choose from. With so many options, customers can make their envelope match the invitation. All of Basic Invite’s envelopes are peel and seal so the envelopes can be closed quickly and securely.
Address Capturing Service- Basic Invite offers an address capturing service that allows customers to share a link on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any other social media to request their friends and family’s addresses. The addresses are stored in the customer’s account and can be selected during the design process. Basic Invite offers recipient address printing at no cost on all card orders.
Foil- Foil cards are available in gold, silver, and rose gold. Customers can choose flat or raised foil on all of Basic Invite’s foil designs.
Right now Basic Invite is offering 15% off with coupon code: 15FF51
Conclusion
There are many ways to use Basic Invite this holiday season. They have invitations for all your festive parties, holiday cards that many have the option to put your own personal picture and of course notepaper.
I encourage you to try the notepaper or cards. Pick your five this festive season and send them a message of holiday good tidings. You never know who you will impact and what lives you will touch with your specialize message.
Are you struggling to think of five? Ask your church for ideas of who to write who might benefit from a card or even a charity that might be near and dear to you. You can even write a note and leave it in a check inbox on a hiking trail. Nursing Homes are also a great idea or even connecting with soldiers. You never know who might benefit from some positive affirmations this holiday season.
One Extra Thought-
Remember that you can do this project at any time of the year too. It doesn’t just have to be during the holiday season. People love knowing they are thought of. So take it old school and start sending handwritten notes with Basic Invite!
