Thank you so very much to the girls who came to the blog party tonight! I am so happy you all got to come and enjoy some of the fun! I had a blast with all of you. =)
Don't forget that both the giveaways for "I Dare You" and "The King's Princess" will be open until May 1, 2016! So if you could not be at the blog party, you can still enter the giveaways until then =) I want to leave all of you with a few thoughts on my heart... First, you are a princess. Don't let anyone tell you differently. The Creator of the Universe loves you and calls you His own. He is your Prince, your King, and everything you will ever need. You are priceless to Him and you are His daughter...His princess. Live worthy of that calling. Live like you believe that you are royalty and your Father is the King of kings. Because you are and He is. Make Him proud. And one last thing. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't achieve your dreams. I stand here today to tell you that dreams come true when God is in the center of them. I've been a writer for ten years. If you would've asked me two years ago if I thought I would be the published author of two books today, I wouldn't have believed it. But here I am, by the grace of God. When you put God in the center of your dreams and you make HIM the desire of your heart, He will do amazing things with it. So be a dreamer and pursue your dreams with all your heart. But give them to God every day and pursue Him even more. I dare you. Who would like another book giveaway? =)
Here's how to enter to win my brand NEW book "The King's Princess"! 1) If you are currently subscribed to my e-magazine "The King's Princess", comment and let me know and you'll automatically be entered in! 2) Answer at least 2 of the following 4 questions correctly (comment below)! *How long have I been writing my magazine "The King's Princess"? *What was the issue theme for the very first issue of my magazine (I know, hard question alert!)? *What is the subtitle for my new book "The King's Princess"? *About how many girls currently are subscribed to my e-magazine? Ready? Have fun!! =) This giveaway will also be up until May 1, 2016 :) And if you are subscribed to my magazine and you answer questions correctly, you will be entered two times into the giveaway =) I wish we could all be together celebrating so that we could share cookies, ice cream, and our favorite sodas! But since we can't, we might as well have just as much fun on here! ;) I hope you've brought along your own ice cream to enjoy! :)
Let's have some more fun doing a Q&A! Ask me questions using the comments section and I'll reply! You can ask serious questions about my writing or faith, or you can ask more fun questions about my favorite food or favorite candy! Ready? Go! Hey everyone!!
I'm so excited about today and the release of my second book, "The King's Princess"! And I'm so glad you could join the fun tonight with the blog party! =) I have some fun things planned, but first I wanted to go back to my first book, "I Dare You"! So what better way to kick off a blog party than to do a book giveaway?? Here are the ways to be entered into the giveaway for "I Dare You": 1) (If you have social media) Post a picture of you holding up your copy of "I Dare You" with the hashtag: #releasedayfun 2) Answer 2 out of the following 4 questions correctly! (Answer them in the comments) *What month and year did "I Dare You" release? *What is the subtitle for "I Dare You" (without looking!)? *Name 2 places that "I Dare You" can be purchased. * How many books have I written (not published, but written), besides "I Dare You"? Have fun with the quiz and have fun entering!! =) EDIT: I wanted to add, that if you missed tonight's party but still wanted to enter the giveaway, the giveaway will be going on until May 1st, 2016 =) My brand new book, just for girls, The King's Princess: A Magazine Compilation, is now available!! I'm super excited about this book and can't wait to see what God does with it! To purchase a signed copy of the book, contact me directly, or to purchase online, please visit: www.createspace.com/6087887 And don't forget to join me back here later between 6-7pm EST for a fun blog party to celebrate the release of this new book! :) To God be the glory, great things He has done! <3 I have a very exciting announcement! In honor of The King's Princess: A Magazine Compilation, releasing on April 28, 2016, I will be having a book release party right here! So no matter where you are at, you can still join the party and the fun! =) Of course, you may have to bring your own cookies. ;)
On April 28th between 6-7pm EST join me here for some fun quizzes and giveaways, a Q&A and some previews of the new book! =) For those of you who can't make it at that time, the giveaways will still be up until May 1st! For those of you with Facebook, friend me and come join the Facebook party that will be going on between 9-10pm EST on the 28th! And follow me on Twitter @authorbella2015 for a fun Q&A with Livy from Crown of Beauty Magazine! If you plan on joining us, I'd love to know! And I can't wait to celebrate with you on the 28th! =) You'll never be good enough.
I read those words and I can feel them in the pit of my stomach. I can feel them destroying myself as they whisper the lie over and over in my head. You're not enough. I can almost say with complete confidence that chances are, if you're human, you've heard this lie whispered into your ear before. It can be subtle and sometimes we don't even know we're hearing it. Sometimes we don't even know that we're believing it. It starts with the "comparing game" that all of us play at some point in our lives. I could never get grades in school as high as what he gets. I could never get my hair to be as perfect as her or my skin to be as flawless as the faces on the magazine covers. I could never be as popular as they are because I'm different and weird. I could never have a chance like they do because I don't deserve it. I have my own list of people I could never be like or things I could never do because I'm not good enough. I could never publish a best-selling book because I don't have what it takes. I could never sing in front of a crowd because they say I can't sing right. I could never be a famous drummer because I can't play the rhythms she can do. I could never be a good enough Christian because I fail God so many times a day. You can hear them now, can't you? You can hear them louder in your head. The whispers, the lies about who you are. You can recognize now what you didn't before because you didn't even realize how you slowly started believing them. But now, my friends, if you will come closer I will whisper to you what you may not have heard before. You are enough. You have what none of them have. You have a story to tell that has never been told before. You have a beauty that shines above the others. You have a legacy to leave that will be incomplete if you don't stand up and fulfill what God has called you to do. And here's some more truth to drown out all those lies you've been believing... You don't have to be enough on your own. As a Christian, the very power and presence of God lives in you. He makes up for our inadequacies and He takes our story and does something extraordinary with it. You see, in Him and in His power, we are more than enough. You don't have to strive every day to meet the expectations of the world until you are exhausted and left wondering why you don't measure up. You don't have to try to be better than anyone else just to feel like you are enough. Be you. Be who God created you to be. Stand up tall and share the unique gift of who you are with the world, even if they keep telling you that you are not enough. Because you don't need to be enough for them. The King of the universe, the Maker of the world is whispering to your heart right now that you are enough for Him and in Him. Listen to His whispers now and believe them above all the lies. You are enough. Be who He made you to be. "How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your Word. With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your Word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You. Blessed are You, O Lord! Teach me Your statutes. With my lips I have declared all the judgments of Your mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, as much as in all riches. I will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate Your ways. I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your Word."
~Psalm 119:9-16 So many times I have recited this passage of Scripture. I have treasured it in my heart and whispered it aloud over and over. The words amaze me, they make me wonder. It is evident in this passage the love that the psalmist has for God's Word! He is passionate about it and he delights in it! He has hidden the words in his heart. And it makes me wonder if I am just as passionate about the Word of God and hiding it in my heart. For five years I participated in the National Bible Bee. It was a journey that completely changed my life in every way. The Bible Bee gave me a passion for studying and memorizing God's Word. I memorized more passages of Scripture than I had ever thought possible. Before I go into my "Bible Bee speech" and explain all the reasons why I think you should sign up this year if you're between the ages of 7-18, I want to share with you some memorization tips that I have gained over the past five years studying for Bible Bee. ;) Honestly, when memorizing I just use rote memorization, simply repeating a phrase over and over aloud until I can recite it without looking. I continue to do this until I have the whole passage memorized. Not many other memorization methods have worked for me, but this one does! In 2014 for Bible Bee there were many shorter passages to memorize from the same Bible book. This got quite confusing and I struggled with keeping the verses apart. So I attempted something different and I drew pictures (Even though drawing is not my strength, haha) that matched each verse, writing the reference above the picture. This helped me to be able to know the passages apart and quote them with more ease. I also associate my verses with certain places or things. If the verse reminded me of a song I loved or a place I had been to, I would associate that with the verse to help me remember it. And when memorizing for Bible Bee, you have such a massive amount of verses to memorize that it's important and sometimes necessary to memorize anywhere and everywhere! I've memorized passages of Scripture in the dentist office before. :) Memorizing in unique places also helped me to remember the passages better as well. My very dear friend, Rachel, a fellow Bible Bee contestant, recently shared with me her thoughts on memorizing and she shared these important tips to remember: "In order to memorize, you have to make a conscience decision to memorize. It's not going to happen if you just say you want to memorize. You must actively try. Is memorizing easy? No. But it does get easier the more you do it." She went on to share: "Just start somewhere! Where, you may ask? You can start anywhere you'd like! But if you need suggestions, Matthew 5, 6, and 7, and Romans 6, 7, and 8 are good passages. Also Isaiah 53, 1 Corinthians 13, and John 3:1-21. Your options are almost limitless...just choose something and go for it!" I couldn't agree with her more. During Bible Bee I have the encouragement of the competition to memorize a certain amount of verses in a certain amount of time. I also have all of the verses given to me on my verse cards. It makes it much easier for me. But when Bible Bee is over for the year or now that I am Alumni, it can be much more difficult to keep up with my verses. I have the goal of wanting to memorize, but I can tend to just talk about it and not actually start anywhere. Choosing a passage and just diving in and memorizing it is all you need to do! I found during Bible Bee season and when I was not competing, that is was very helpful for me to make a to-do list or set a goal for the day, week, or month. If I did that, I had more of a structured goal to aim for. Rachel shared some of the same insights: "Set goals for yourself. Maybe that goal is just one verse a week. That may seem like not very much, but think about it...by the end of the year, that would be 52 verses. The average length of a chapter is about half of that, so in a year you could memorize two whole chapters! Think about the riches you could gain from meditating on those 52 verses! Maybe you want to set your sights higher. Even if you did just 4 verses a week, in one year, you would have memorized over 200 verses! That's a whole book! The book of 1 John is just 105 verses, as well as 1 Peter. By memorizing just 4 verses a week, you could have two entire books of the Bible memorized in one year." One of my biggest struggles is keeping up with reviewing all the verses I memorized after Bible Bee is over for the year. I memorize so many beautiful passages of Scripture during Bible Bee, but then don't always take the time to review them and keep them in my memory. I've found that it's helpful to take even just three or four of the passages I've memorized for Bible Bee and review them each week. Rachel shared with me this about review: "Memorizing the verse is just half of it. Reviewing your memorized verses is also extremely important. I have memorized a verse, and then the next day or week try to recite it again, but I can't! That's really discouraging. But if you are diligent in reviewing your verses, especially the first couple days after memorizing, they are much more likely to stick." I've heard a lot of people tell me they don't think they can memorize Scripture because they just don't have that "skill." But I strongly disagree. I truly believe every single one of us has the ability to memorize God's Word and hide it in our hearts. When we have the words of God, the very breath and thoughts of God, in our hearts, that changes things. It changes us. It changes the way that we live and people start to wonder why we're so different, giving us the opportunity to share our faith with the world. There have been so many times in my life where I have needed encouragement or verses to help me in a situation and verses that I have memorized come back to me at those times. In August 2015, I was taken to the hospital because I had severe food poisoning and was terribly dehydrated. I couldn't even lift my head and was hardly even able to respond to the paramedics questions. During this entire time, a verse I had only recently memorized for Bible Bee kept coming back to me over and over. "It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." ~Psalm 18:32. I recited this verse in my head over and over and I drew my strength from it. What an encouragement it was to have that verse memorized when I needed it most! So I encourage you today to memorize and hide God's Word in your heart so you can confidently say with the psalmist, "I will delight myself in Your statutes, I will not forget Your Word!" Oh, and if you're interested in signing up for Bible Bee this year, go on over to www.biblebee.org. It will change your life, I promise. :) To God be the glory. |
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