New Year's Extravaganza! Goodbye 2012!

 

 

Welcome to my New Year's Extravaganza!

I'm saying "So long, it's been swell" to 2012,
and "Well hello there beautiful" to 2013!

 

It has been yet another great year and there is so much I am thankful for.
So much!
2012 was filled with many firsts for me and I am so blessed to be on the
 journey God has set out for my life.
It's quite the adventure.
  It truly is unbelievable how much He loves me.

He has totally rocked my world this past year,
but in the best of ways.

One of the biggest things that happened is that
I turned 40.

Yep, the big 4-0.

You're probably saying to yourself...
"You, 40? No way. You can't be a day over 38 1/2."

I know right. Unbelievable.

I believe my 40s are going to be A-MA-ZA-ZING!

2012 was also filled with many new friendships.

You can't ever, ever, ever have too many friends.
They are like gold!
Like. Gold.
Treasure them, all of them.

Some of my new friends I actually met here on my blog.
They are either readers or fellow bloggers.

They are the sweetest of ladies and I am so blessed by their friendship!

The other ladies that I have grown close to this year are through our
Joli Women's Ministry at my church.
These women have truly blessed my socks off and I am blessed to work alongside them throughout the year.
(You know who you are.)

It has been an honor to be a part of what God is doing in the hearts of women and I am in great expectation of what He is going to do in 2013.

I thought I would recap 2012 with naming some of my favorite things about this year.
I could probably name 100 things, but seriously...
who has time for that?

So, I narrowed it down to ten.

 

Hold on to your seats ladies and gents!

It's going to be great!

 

Drum roll please...

 

 

1. My favorite book of 2012-

 

Life of Pi

A fantasy adventure novel by Yann Martel

 

 

2. My favorite movie of 2012-

 

The Odd Life of Timothy Green

or

Life of Pi

 

 

3. Favorite television show of 2012-

 

Parenthood

 (Seasons 1, 2, 3 & now 4)

 

4. My favorite song of 2012-

 

Angel by Your Side

by Francesca Battistelli

 

 

5. My favorite restaurant of 2012-

 

The Melting Pot

(A fondue paradise!)

 

 

6. My favorite adventure of 2012-

(I have two.)
 

Flying for the first time.

 or
Sharing part of my testimony with hundreds of women at my church.
 

 

7. My favorite moment of 2012-

 

Watching my son be water baptized and declaring his love for Jesus.

 

 

8. My favorite quote of 2012
(I have two)
 

Hate is easy; love takes courage.
~~unknown
 

If my life is fruitless, it doesn't matter who praises me.

And if my life is fruitful, it doesn't matter who criticizes me.

~~John Bunyan

 

9. My favorite scripture verse of 2012-

 (Again, I have two.)

Ephesians 1:7
He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom
with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.
 

Psalm 34:18

If your heart is broken, you'll find God right there;

If you're kicked in the gut, He'll help you catch your breath.

 

 

10. My favorite food or beverage discovery of 2012-

 

New Orleans Old Fashioned Eggnog used as coffee creamer.

(Oh man, it tastes like heaven!)

 

 

 

I also thought I would share my top ten most viewed blog posts for 2012.

 

Thank you for making 2012 such a great year for

Finding the SONlight!

 

I so much enjoy sharing my life and heart here with all of you!
If you have time, recap the list of blogs below.

My personal favorite is The man that walks the streets.
 

 (Just click the title and it will take you to that particular post)

 

1. I'm over it.

 

2. Do it afraid.

 

3. The man that walks the streets.

 

4. Across the ocean blue.

 

5. Dying to live.

 

6. Full circle.

 

7. The perfect friend.

 

8. Even when my heart is in Romania.

 

9. You lead and I'll do my best to keep up.

 

10.  The gift of gathering.

 

There you have it...

some of my favorite things and the most viewed

blog posts of 2012!

 

 And now...
for the BIG finale!

I did my first GIVEAWAY over the past few weeks,
and although I didn't get the response I was hoping for...I do have a winner!

The winner of this giveaway gets a new copy of
Francine Rivers'
Redeeming Love

The winner is Rondah S!!

Congratulations to YOU!!


I believe that 2013 will be even better than 2012.

I am ready for whatever comes my way.

Thanks again for making this blog worth writing!

 

What about you?

 

What made 2012 so wonderful for you?

 

I'd love to know!

 

 

Happy New Year!

 

 

 





It's my first GIVEAWAY!!

 

 

 

 

 

As promised,

today is the day I introduce my very first GIVEAWAY here on the blog.

 

I love GIVEAWAYS!

 

I never knew how much fun they could be until we did a couple of giveaways over at

Joli Women's Ministry blog.

 

What great fun it was to surprise the winner and bless them with a nice gift!

 

I thought,

"Hey I can do that!"

 

So here we are.

 

It didn't take me very long to figure out what I wanted to give away.

 

I decided to give away my favorite book!

 

We did a book discussion of a particular book a few semesters ago on Joli blog.

 That book changed the way that I see God's love for me.

 

I've always known that God loves me.

He gave of Himself so that I could be free,

so that you could be free.

That is the ultimate form of Love.

 

But,

sometimes I felt as though my sin kept God from loving me.

 

I thought that each time I messed up, His love for me weakened.

I thought I had to somehow win His love back for me.

 

But, that is simply not the case.

There is nothing that you or I could do to make God love us any more or any less.

 

He simply LOVES us.

In spite of our sin.

 

Not only does He love us in spite of our sin,

but He died to save us from it...

all of it.
 

 

If you don't already know how much He loves you,

I hope you win this book and find out how much He truly does!

 

You are His Beloved.

 

Beloved means dearly loved.

 

You are dearly loved by God!

 

There is nothing on this earth that will ever change that.

 

Not a thing.

 

 

Romans 8:38

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.

 

John 3:16

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

 

Romans 5:8

 "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

I knew from the start that I wanted to give this book away.

I want it to bless someone and be a revelation to them of God's enduring, unstoppable and unfailing Love for them. 

 

It is a historical romance set in the 1850s during the Gold Rush.

It is inspired by the book of Hosea in the Bible.

 

It is absolutely amazing and life changing.

 

It gives a clear picture of God's redemming love towards us sinners.

It's the kind of book you start reading when you get into bed at about 9:30,
to relax and read a little before falling asleep,
 and the next thing you know...
it's 2:15 in the morning!

It's that good people! That good!

 

If you haven't guessed it already,

the book I want to give away is...

 

 

Redeeming Love

by Francine Rivers

 

Song of Songs 6:3

I am my Beloved's and my Beloved is mine.

 

 

 

 

Pretty awesome huh?!

 

Like with any other giveaway,

there are a few rules.

 

1. You must be able to comment on the blog itself.

To do so, you must have a Google account set up.

 

2. You must leave a comment answering two questions:

 

What was the name of the angel who appeared to Mary telling her that she would indeed conceive the Christ child?

 

Where was Mary living when the angel of the Lord appeared to her?

 

3. You must give your email address under your comment so you can be contacted if you are the winner.

 

I will randomly select the winner and announce it on the blog on December 26th.

 

Comments will close at midnight on Christmas Day!

No wait!

Now I'm giving it away on New Year's Day!

Comments will close at midnight on New Year's Eve!
 

I am so very excited to be able to give this book away and bless someone.

 

It just might be YOU!

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Did you know that you are dearly loved?

 

Watch the video at the link below:

 

Jimmy Needham

Dearly Loved

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3IdRkylxaI

 

 

 

If I can pray for you today,

please message me or email me at tammy.stelly@yahoo.com.