2010 Inspiration Challenge

Last post today, promise!

I love the "dare challenges" at The Digi Dares. However, I rarely stop and do the challenges. I want to attempt to do atleast one dare a month this year. The reason I love their dares is because they challenge you to look within and scrap memories or life and not just photos. I forget sometimes to stop and do some layouts about things such as ~what I like/dislike at the time~ ~my favorite songlist at certain point and time~ ~what inspires me~. And so, I took the "inspiration" challenge and this is the result. This is what inspires me in January 2010:

There are so many other things that inspire me but I tried to narrow it down to an 8x8 layout, lol. As I thought about the different things/people/places that cause inspiration to well up inside me I realized I draw my inspiration from two different worlds.....#1 The real one, which I live among daily and #2 The cyberspace one, which I also tend to live among daily.

For this reason I split my layout into those two worlds. There are five blogs I follow obsessively because these ladies/blogs are often Christ centered and so uplifting (and real). It really doesn't matter that they reference many of their posts around their spouses & children. Being a single girl myself you might think that would be hard & tiresome to read about regularly. However, they do it in a way that when all is said and done, God is glorified and I am left challenged to be a better person in Christ. Here are a list of those blogs (they are also in my "favorites" sidebar but I will list them here, too). I challenge you to visit one a day over the next work week and see if you aren't inspired, too.

Sarah Markley

(in)courage

Chatting At The Sky

The Creative Mama

It's Almost Naptime!

Seriously...this is my life! (I added this one because my cousin's blog is also a great source of inspiration on many topics as well, including God).

For my IRL (in real life) inspiration list I chose these (in no particular order):

#1 {Music} I love music....contemporary Christian music to be more precise. Chris Tomlin is my absolute favorite praise & worship singer/songwriter. His songs can take me to a level of worship like few others can. This man certainly has used the gift/vision given him to bring immense glory to God.

#2 {Nature} Ahhh, nature, like music, can sweep me into a whole other realm. As pictured, just about anywhere in Colorado inspires me because of the various mountain ranges through out. Sunrises, a field of blooming flowers & blazing autumn colors can evoke the same inspiration in me.

#3 {God's Word} The Holy Bible.....if you can't find inspiration here then trust me, you cannot find it anywhere. I guess you can but then who do you give credit to for the inspiration? It is the foundation of all things that inspire. God's word, like God himself, is as same today as it was yesterday and as it will be tomorrow. It is what feeds and quenches our souls while we live out this time on earth.

#4 {These Boys} You had to know Trevor & Caiden would be one of my top sources of inspiration. Simply put, they inspire me to be a better person (period)

#5 {God's Gifts} I have blogged in the past about my love for rainbows. I can't imagine there isn't anyone who doesn't love these magnificent arching beauty's. For me to see a rainbow is, frankly, like receiving some of the best news possible. Seriously. If I am driving and able to pull off the road to just sit and stare at one I will. I have been known on many occasions to run outside after a thunderstorm has moved over and I see the sun break through the clouds just to try and catch one. I believe God has used rainbows to speak to me during 2 very low points in my life. The first was through a dream I had about many rainbows in the sky at one time. The second was an actual rainbow that appeared on my livingroom ceiling in 2008. Both times I needed God's promise of better things to come and both times, after the rainbows appeared, the clouds parted in my life and the sun began to shine again.

xoxoxo