Welcome to the Bloggy Giveaways Carnival hosted by “Bloggy Giveaways/Rocks in my Dryer“.

What is a reflection of me?!? I thought, what do I share most here and at Laced with Grace? Bible passages from the ESV Bible (which I personally use in my readings/studying His word).

If you are interested in receiving a beautiful leather-bound ESV Bible, please leave me a comment. US & Canada shipping only (sorry ).

I will keep the comments open until Friday, February 1st (5am AZ time) and will announce the winner Friday night. Please make sure that you leave a valid email address in the comment section (which will not be revealed to anyone except me).

Thank you for stopping by and your interest in the giveaway.

***Update – The last comment accepted for the giveaways is #124. Thank you all for stopping by .

Blessings on your day and as always…

I am not sure what I will giveaway, but I am sure that I’ll come up with something.

Blessings on your Monday and always…

Current Mood: Playful

…and this week’s ‘Chicks’ carnival. This week was an open theme, so you will find a wide array of topics ~ enjoy …

• Check out Melanie’s post about eavesdropping – sure made me giggle. Especially the conversation between Max and Husband…
• Kailani is looking at the ‘Inner Betty’ in her post titled ‘Channel Your Inner Betty‘. Some great thoughts and encouragement she is sharing..
• Laurel Wreath talks about how what begins as true can lead to something false in her post ‘What began as truth is now lie‘. Wonderful words of wisdom…
• Robin at PENSIEVE had a few unexpected gifts this week; the first one was followed by a second. Be thankful, she almost included a really disgusting post for the Carnival this week, but changed her mind at the last minute .
• Do you have real beauty? Tasra at Lessons from the Scrapbook Page shows us how to find it for ourselves and help others discover their real beauty too.
• Jennifer, at Snapshot, thinks about her angry outbursts and ponders Righteous Anger?
• Sometimes a gals just got to ‘bare‘ it all. Why don’t you join Rach at Dutch Femka and bare what your kitchen cupboards hold…
• Biker Betty’s motorcycle scavenger hunt is now over and she recounts the last few days of scurrying around to get the last few precious points. So go on over and read about her motorcycle adventures…
• Have you ever seen the Black Screen Of Death? I have, more than once. Check out Catastrophic Hard Drive Failure at Of Making Many Books to find out when and how it caused blood, tears, and worse.
• Polly at Life is a Buffet discovers she’s slowly being poisoned. Find out who the culprit was in her post, “Help, I’ve Been Poisoned!“
• Visit with Gattina from Belgium. Her entry for this week’s carnival is titled “Annex to Yesterday” and “Russia’s new rich“
• Check out who enables Linda to have a “love affair“. Believe me — it is absolutely not what you might think…fun read, indeed!
• As for your’s truly? Well, I didn’t actually write a post for this week’s carnival. But my personal favorite post I have written this past week is over at Laced with Grace, titled “He Whispers“…
• Just added – Visit Beth at Ramblings of an Undisturbed Mind and read her thoughts about her aunt’s and uncle’s 50th anniversary…

I hope you enjoyed the above posts. Thank you Michele for allowing me to host the carnival this week…Hope I didn’t miss anyone .

Have a blessed and peaceful Sunday,

First I would like to thank Sallie at A Gracious Home to allow me to host this week’s Carnival of Beauty. As you know by now, Philippians is my favorite Epistle lesson in the New Testament. This week we have 8 wonderful ladies and myself joining the “Carnival Circus”. I am thrilled to announce that we have some ‘newcomers’. It is always such a blessing to find new reads, isn’t it. I hope you are as blessed as I was reading this week’s posts on the Beauty of Philippians…

• Jennifer, at Snapshot, examines her own Parenting in Philippians and remembers Who is really in control.
• Nicole, at ‘The Girl Next Door‘, talks about the peace of God that transcends all understanding she experienced when her mom was diagnosed with cancer.
• Like all growing Christians, Gina over at Portrait of a Writer…Interrupted is a WIP! A Work In Progress. And her favorite book of the Bible, Philippians, has been the perfect road map in helping her continue on her journey until the day of completion in Christ Jesus.
• Janice from 5 Minutes for Mom reflects on Paul’s Infectious Joy and her favorite way to read Philippians.
• Michele of Life Under the Sun looks at our citizenship in heaven and standing in the presence of God.
• Keziah, at A Woman who Fears the Lord, is sharing her thoughts on her favorite book ~ Philippians; probably because it was the first book she properly studied when she became a Christian. There is so much in the book, but Keziah is mainly focusing on the verses referring to joy in her post My Joy and My Crown. What is this joy that Paul is talking about?
• Over at Crickl’s Nest, Christie is remembering how a promise in the book of Philippians changed her view of God’s peace and created depth in her spiritual walk. Practicing Peace is the only option when walking through the hard times of life.
• Paul is held captive away from those he longs to encourage. Through reading his letters to the church at Philippi, Blair notes that we too can have Freedom in Chains.
• Forgiveness is the easy part for Iris at Sting My Heart. But there is a harder part than forgiveness. Read her post To Forgive is Easy about the harder part of forgiveness.

Thank you ladies for making this carnival once again a beautiful one .

I do forgive easily, but there is a more difficult part about forgiveness, isn’t there? At least for me and for some other fine blogging ladies. I came across three posts this past week, talking about forgiveness ~ and yes they were written by different women on my Blogroll (very interesting)…

Jamie at TNChick was talking about that she could forgive, but really has a hard time to forget…Heather at Midlife Moments was talking about the same thing, just in a different situation…Vicki at Windows To My Soul got hurt, forgave the other person and moved on…

So the really hard part of forgiveness is the forgetting part…You see, in Spring of 2005 I made a lot of changes in my personal life. I was involved in many things at my home congregation. I was rarely home during the week, or prepared for things for church at home. Even on the weekends I spend time at church…God gave me a new perspective on serving Him. He gently (or maybe not so gently) reminded me that I do have a ministry at home!

You probably start wondering where the forgiveness and forgetting part comes in…Let me tell you.

After I stepped back from all the ‘public’ ministries, I was laid ‘waste-side’ by most people of my congregation. I was okay with it. They were just too busy to deal with my personal hurts, I forgave and moved on. The forgetting part was a little harder. When I needed my congregation the most, they dropped me like a hot potato…But I continued to seek comfort in God’s Word and it helped me to stay focused on what was really important in this life! Him and His promise: That He was the only one who can see me through the valleys of life…

The biggest clincher though came this last spring. My best friend told me that I have changed too much; that I had more time for on-line friends than for real people. Ouch! She was the only one I still met for Bible study and now she was gone too…Yikes! But to be perfectly honest with you, I see my writing on my Blog as ministry. The people who come across my blog and read what I have to write are REAL people too. We are only divided by a computer screen…AND my main ministry is at home. With God’s help, I can be the wife and mother He wants me to be. Sure it is not a public ministry, but it is the most rewarding one.

Did I forgive my best friend for the hurtful words? Of course I did! Did I forget them? Nope. They come up once in awhile and sting my heart…but…

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” ~ Philippians 3:12-14

Please email me your information (name, blog name, title of your post and a short lead-in) by Tuesday, 3pm EST. – Thank you .

Not because I am out pictures, no I have plenty to share, believe me. Because I want to share more than just a picture today. You see, today, author Mary E. DeMuth is giving us the honor to host the Carnival of Beauty. Check out all the wonderful entries over at Relevantblog what women think about the Beauty of Blogging.

Next week’s carnival is hosted right here at Sting My Heart. I hope that you allow me to host your entry about the Beauty of Philippians. As I have stated many times, Philippians is my favorite Epistle. And some of my readers who know me a little more, know that Philippians 4:13 is my life’s motto…

Also, today I am sharing a couple of thoughts about sharing our faith over at Blogging with CWO. Hope you have some time to stop by.

Have a blessed day .

Am I a different person on the Internet than in real life? No, not really, just more straight forward and I can share with the ‘world’ what is on my mind and in my heart. I can share my faith, my struggles and failures. But the coolest thing is that I always can point to my Lord and Savior, who is my Strength and my Shield. If people are offended by it ~ they just move on and won’t return…I can say on my blog what I want and don’t have to be ‘politically correct’.

Since I am not a great Evangelist like Billy Graham or Greg Laurie, I can share His promise of salvation with people who are searching to find hope. Hope of a better tomorrow. Hope that Someone will see them through their struggles in this life. Okay, so I hide behind the computer screen and use my keyboard to take the message out into the world – nothing wrong with that. My hope is that someone out there will ‘google’ Sting My Heart and will click on the link they will find (BTW – ‘Sting My Heart’ comes up at the #2 spot with the Google search engine and #1 with Yahoo )…

So, what can be more beautiful than to share my hope with the World Wide Web via blogging. Okay, I could go out on mission trips, but I am not brave enough to do that…

Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. ~ Matthew 5:15-16

Yeah – I don’t have to hide my lamp under a bowl on my Blog – I can just go for it:wink:. How about you? Do you hold back on your blog? Do you write what is in your heart, or are you trying to ‘please’ people with your posts?…Please do share.

Just a little side-note to self. Don’t mess with the sidebar of your blog when your wireless mouse acts all goofy on you and looses its power. And a note to you Spamers out there. I have Akismet installed and about 99.9% of your Spam is blocked anyway. And if you leave Spam comments in German, please learn how to spell it correctly…But actually you are doing me a favor, because you show up as visitors to my site and thus you are boosting my rankings …

Yes, I am. I can not believe that a reader(s?) think that Sting My Heart is worthy of a Blog of Beauty Award…

You can not believe how much that means to me to be nominated. Thinking that you, my dear readers, think I am in the same league as She Lives or Joy in the Journey…That is huge!

But I do have to give credit, where credit is due. His inspiration…I have written many, many post, only to hit the backspace-bar or delete an entire post…He is faithful….

So, thank you again for nominating Sting My Heart for several categories, especially “Best Encourager – General” and “Best Meet for a Mocha”…and thank you Jamie for making Sting My Heart unique to be nominated for “Best Contemporary Design” as well.

Please visit ‘A Gracious Home‘ and visit all the beautiful women Bloggers out there. I know, I have my favorites, but I will make sure that I will visit all the finalists…Voting is open until Monday, July 17th, 8pm EST. Thank you Sallie, for this beautiful award and taking on the task hosting it .

And speaking of beauty. Visit Ellen at MzEllen & Co., who is hosting the carnival this week. The theme, you might wonder? The Beauty of Psalms…

Isn’t God’s creation beautiful? As my Sweetheart and I took a little trip to our ‘desert backyard’ on Satuday, I was just amazed how close the clouds are in Arizona. It made me think of my favorite Psalm. How close God really is and that we can cry out to Him for His mercy…

I thought for this Carnival of Beauty post I would share with you my favorite Psalm via audio (you might have to adjust the volume on your PC ). I hope you have the time to listen and reflect on the words David wrote so many years ago; to give us the comfort and peace we need in our life…

Psalm 143:

My hope is that, when you are distress, read the Psalms, because I know for certain that God will guide you to find your favorite one. Have a blessed Sunday evening…

This week’s Carnival of Beauty theme is ‘The Beauty of ths Pslams’ and hosted by Ellen at MzEllen & Co. There is still time for you to submit the entry. Deadline is Tuesday, July 11th, 3pm EST. Looking forward reading/hearing your entry this week .

As you know I lived the first 30 years of my earthly life in Germany. I grew up in a country with a rich history (yeah, I know some really dark one too, but which country doesn’t have dark parts in their history?). Anyway, I grew up in a divided country, which was reunited on October 3rd, 1990…I am sorry to say that it didn’t mean much to me that Germany was reunited. For one thing, I was blessed to grow up in the Western part; the free part. We had great schools, I got a good education (my parents insisted on that). I was also blessed to grow up in a nurturing environment. One dark part though, growing up in the late 60′s to mid 80′s was that we, pretty much on a daily basis, had terrorist attacks. Either groups within (yeah Germany had terrorist cells – just don’t remember why they blew things up), the IRA, the Basque Separatist, and the Sicilian Mafia. But you know, you adjust to that. You just accept it…

Even though with all the challenges growing up, I love my country. And to be honest with you, my friends, I would go back in a heartbeat. I miss the European way of living. I miss the street side cafes, the Biergardens, the festivals…the shopping. The whole nine yards…And of course, I miss my family. I don’t have the chance to spoil my niece and nephew; I can’t hug my mom or sister when they are going through a hard time. Some days that makes me sad. I miss hopping on the train and be in a few hours in a different country like Italy, Spain or France.

Many times I have asked myself, why in the world God planted us here in the US, especially Arizona. I think for one thing, He brought us here to bring me back to a close relationship with Him. On the other hand, God wanted to make it clear to me, that no matter where I live, it is not home. We have our home in heaven and if we get to comfortable in the places we live and we love, we would forget all about heaven…

Do I miss living in Germany? Of course…Am I content where I live now? Certainly! Because I know it is by the hand of God.