following an unknown path

The Beauty of Truth

The beauty of truth is that it sets us free.

"You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:32).

I know . . . I've experienced this truth--that the truth sets us free--several times.

As a kid, lying was probably the sin I struggled with most.  I didn't lie straight out, I stretched the truth or made up my own "stretched facts."   I blurred the lines between reality and my imagination.  But, still it was lying.  I distinctly remember one day--maybe in third or fourth grade--sitting in the cafeteria and telling one of my stretched stories.  I remember being so convicted.  I realized that I couldn't keep all the details of all my stretched stories straight.  It was liberating to discover that if I told the truth and only the truth, I didn't have to worry about keeping anything straight.

In college, I sinned and then was convicted by the Holy Spirit; I struggled for an entire summer with the guilt of not confessing it.  The moment I went to the person I had sinned against and confessed, the moment I told her the truth, I was able to breathe freely again. 

A few years ago, I suffered from depression.  Part of it was hormonal, and while hormonally imbalanced, it was easy for me to believe "warpy thoughts."   So, part of getting out of the deep dark pit of depression was washing away the lies I had been believing with Scripture.  I remember one of my friends telling me: "no wonder your depressed, anyone who believes that would be depressed."   Her speaking truth to me and encouraging me to feed on Scripture again, helped set me free from the chains of depression.

Satan is the father of lies, and shoots flaming darts at us.  "He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44).  He loves to keep us bound and imprisoned.

Oh, but our Heavenly Father delights in truth in his inward being (Psalm 51:6).  And it is Him who sets us free.  His truth sets us free.   What a glorious thing to delight in! 

Truth . . what a very beautiful thing indeed!

This post was submitted to the Carnival of Beauty sponsored by following an unknown path.  This week the theme is The Beauty of Truth and is hosted by Bethany at Picturesque Life. Join us next week for The Beauty of Babies--right here on my blog. 

ahhh! life.

I am currently without internet in my home.  Talk about a major curve-ball to my normal lifestyle!! :)

Thanks for all the neat comments on the last post.  I have lots of different posts all being simultaneously written in my head right now.  They are all aching for me to be able to type them out.  Soon. Very soon.

Thanks for your patience with the Carnival stuff.  Right when I am making lots of changes is not a good time to be without internet access at home!  But, such is life.

This week the Carnival is over at Bethany's blog and the theme is The Beauty of Truth.  I can't wait!  Don't forget you now have till THURSDAY to post!!  Yeah!!  So, come join us!

Oh, and if you have time, please swing by Susanna's blog for The Beauty of Strong Men.  There are some awesome posts there!

Yall take care and maybe, just maybe, I can be back online at home tomorrow!!

My Blogging Story

Since Inquiring Minds Want to Know My Blogging Story, I thought I'd oblige.  Actually, they wanna know yours too . . . so join in by answering these questions and leaving your linky-da-link-link here.

How did you start blogging?
I've had a website since 1999, and I would have loved to have started way back then if I'd known about it then.   In 2003, I found Blogger, but didn't quite get the concept, so I started an online database of stories from Taiwan that were totally static--not interactive at all. 

In 2005, I started to use MSN spaces since I used MSN messenger quite a bit back then. The biggest problem I've had with blogging is "who is my audience?".  Using MSN spaces answered that question for me since most of my MSN buddies were students.  So, I started by writing to my students. 

Then some how one day, I stumbled upon a blog written by about 5 stay-at-home moms.  Then clickty click click . . . I found my way to Two Talent Living (now known as A Gracious Home) and Always Thirsty (now closed). 

As I clicked and surfed my way through bloggy world, I instantly found that there was a possible audience out there other than my students.  And, it excited me.  So, I opened up a typepad account and haven't looked back since.

Did you intend to be a blog w/a following? If so, how did you go about it?
"A following"??  No.  "Readers?"  Yes. 

I didn't really "go about it."  I like being a small blog with a smaller readership.  I do think participating in carnivals and being an active commenter on other blogs helps create e-relationships which can boost readership

What do you hope to achieve or accomplish with your blog? Have you been successful? If not, do you have a plan to achieve those goals?
Mostly I was and still am interested in writing for my friends and family back in America, as well as for other Christians who are interested in knowing what life is like for a single, missionary gal living in Taiwan.

I would like draw attention to missions in general and ministry in Taiwan in particular.  I want to showcase for others what life is like for me here in Taiwan.  I want to bring glory to God by writing about what he is doing in and through me as I live here in Taiwan.

I hope I've been successful.  I know there are times my blog has gotten "fluffy" or has lacked driven purpose, but I do have a few changes in mind to help that.

Has the focus of your blog changed since you started blogging? How?
Not really.  The only thing I can think of is that I've gotten less personal/intimate in some ways.

What do you know now that you wish you'd known when you started?
I wish I had thought through some of the privacy issues.  My website was with my full name, so I also started blogging with my full name.  Not so sure I would do that if I could start over again.

Do you make money with your blog?
No.

Does your immediate or extended family know about your blog? If so, do they read it? If not, why?
Yes; they know and some read.  They are a main reason why I blog.  Even my grandparents and kid brother read my blog! :)  (Kid brother once even commented on the mispelled words in a story/post. A 13 year old correcting an English professor! Ha!!)  Oh, yeah, and my mom's cousin's wife, Cindy, reads my blog--she has been very encouraging all along the way. 

What two pieces of advice would you give to a new blogger?
1. As Taiwanese people love to say, "Don't think too much."  Once you've thought through the key issues and decided to blog, don't worry too much.  Play with your blog and enjoy it.  Look for what you like on other blogs and see how you yourself could emmulate it in your own way.

2. If you are looking for ways to build readership, participate in carnivals, memes, and go out into the bloggy-world and leave comments.  Just like you have to be a friend to get a friend. . . you have to (start by) be(ing) a reader to get readers.

Upcoming Carnival Topics . . . Hostess Needed

Here are the upcoming Carnival of Beauty Topics . . .

 

July 6             The Beauty of (free)

July 13            The Beauty of Summer

July 20            The Beauty of Grace

July 27           The Beauty of Play

August 3         The Beauty of (free)

August 10       The Beauty of The Lord's Day

August 17       The Beauty of Prayer

August 24       The Beauty of Change

August 31       The Beauty of Learning

September 7    The Beauty of (free)

September 14  The Beauty of Autumn

September 21  The Beauty of Discipline

September 28  The Beauty of Hope

Did you notice another change?  The first CoB of each month will be free choice.  You can choose to write about the beauty of whatever you want as long as you keep to our purpose of glorying God and reflecting Christ in our writing.  You can choose something mundane and ordinary or something grand and amazing--the choice is yours!

I am now accepting requests for hosting.  Anyone who has had a post included in a previous CoB may host.  If you would like to host, please email me let me know which day(s) would be best for you.  When you email your request, please also include your blog's URL.

Thank you for all the encouragement and support so many of you have offered this week.

(Changes to the google group page and main CoB page won't get done this week, like I originally thought they would . . . maybe Monday??)

a short trip

Last week, two of my students, Gilby, and I went to PengHu County--south of where I live--for an evening of traditional Taiwanese fun.

We ate some traditional foods for dinner and then tried the famous 冷熱冰 (literally translated: "cold hot ice") for dessert.  "Cold hot ice"  is a bowl of hot treats--red beans, taro chunks, glutinous rice balls filled with peanut powder--covered in shaved ice topped with brown sugar water.

Here are pictures of what 冷熱冰 (cold hot ice) looks like, as well as pictures of me and Gilby with my students outside of the famous restaurant.

Another cool thing about this restaurant is that just outside of the restaurant is a vendor who sells mantou (steamed bread) from a converted bicycle.

Here is a pic of me on the bike, and a pic of Julie pointing to what is inside the steamer on the back of the bike. (Yes, we had the vendor's permission to play with her movable store.)  But, since the vendor was done for the day, she had already cleaned out the glass case in the front.  (I found one on flickr taken in the daylight when her case was full.)

Picture Credits: cold hot stuff 1 and cold hot stuff 2.

ladies, can i have your attention, please!

Announcing some immediate and some upcoming changes to the Carnival of Beauty!!

First . . . let me invite you once again to participate in this week's CoB!  We have a really cool topic this week that I am really excited about!  It is the Beauty of Strong Men!  Susanna at Through a Glass is hosting this week, and I assume she would be delighted to have a whole slew of posts submitted.  So, please think about it, pray about it, and write about it!!  Please see below for some great news about a change that will start with this week's CoB!!!!!

We have a new day of the week for our carnival!  From now on, the CoB will be on Fridays.  Submissions to the CoB will be due on the Thursday before--time still to be set by the hostess.  This will give us a few more days to compose our posts each week--something I know I need!

We have a new way to keep in touch.  I have decided to use google groups as a way to help contact ladies interested in the CoB.  Please join if you would like to get info and reminders about the CoB right in your own inbox.  I expect no more than 2 messages sent per week.

       

Subscribe to Carnival of Beauty

Email:

Visit this group

We have a new way to submit posts to the CoB.  Instead of each week changing the submission address to match the different hostess, you can submit to the same email address each week starting with me in three weeks with the Beauty of Babies.  What I can do is each Monday forward the address to that week's hostess.  Then all submissions will go straight to her inbox without her having to post her email address to world if she doesn't want to.  I thought I'd be the one to test drive the new email address in case there were any problems.  So, starting the week of June 20, posts can be submitted to [email protected].

(NB) We have a new "testing period."  I believe the CoB doesn't have to be big to fulfill its purpose.  And, I don't wanna play the numbers game; however, part of the purpose of the CoB is to meet new women online that we wouldn't have met otherwise--and if we only have 1 or 2 posts each week, are we really meeting this objective? 

So, later this week I am going to make the new line up for topics for July, August and September and ask for hostesses for these weeks.  If by the end of September, we are still having an average of less than 5 posts each week, I am going to put the CoB to rest.  She's had a good run and has blessed many women--myself included.  I would love to see her continue to bless others and be used as a way to encourage us to reflect Christ in our writings and on our blogs.  Yet, I can't see expending my time and energy into something that is barely meeting its purpose.

So, if you are one of the ones that emailed me and told me how meaningful the CoB has been to you and would hate to see it close. . . I strongly encourage you to either consider submitting or at least commenting to thank the hostess and those whose posts were encouraging to you.  I also would like to ask you to please encourage your readers to check out the CoB and invite them to join us.

I will be updating the google groups page as well as the main carnival page on my blog later this week to reflect these new changes. 

Also, there are about two days left to submit any ideas for future topics . . . so, if you have any tucked away in the back corners of your noggin, now is the time to dust them off and send them in! 

I am very open to suggestions and welcome feedback--either in the comments or by email.

redeemed, redeemed!

I woke up this morning singing this . . .

Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it!
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed through His infinite mercy,
His child and forever I am.

Refrain
Redeemed, redeemed,
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed, redeemed,
His child and forever I am.

Redeemed, and so happy in Jesus,
No language my rapture can tell;
I know that the light of His presence
With me doth continually dwell.

Refrain

I think of my blessèd Redeemer,
I think of Him all the day long:
I sing, for I cannot be silent;
His love is the theme of my song.

I don't even know when is the last time I actually heard this song being sung or played, but I tell ya it was ALL I could think of this morning!!

Just in case you were wondering, it is one of the thousands of hymns penned by Fanny Crosby.

shared posts and a bloggy quiz

First, let me tell you about a new feature I am trying out in my sidebar.  I switched from bloglines to google reader awhile back because I saw someone else's shared post page.  I thought it was a cool idea.  So, I signed up and imported all my bloglined blogs. 

Not only do I have a page that g-reader makes for me of my shared posts, but g-reader also makes a little clipmark kind of thing that I can add to my blog.  So, over there on the right, you will find a white and pink box full of posts I've recently read and thought were noteworthy.

I am going to try to be better about marking items as shared in my reader, but, well, you know, sometimes carbon-based life takes priority.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Second, I saw this quiz first over at The Sparrow's Nest a few days ago.  I took the quiz and then stored the results in my drafts, since then I've seen it all over the place! :)  My how fast things spread in bloggyville!! 

Well, in addition to Leslie and Kim, I tested as Elinor Dashwood. 

Which Jane Austen heroine are you?

taiwan from my students' eyes

As I've mentined before, I am teaching an internet English course this semester.  This is actually one of the multiple reasons I needed a bloggy break! :)  I added 20 something student blogs to a "must-read and interact with" list on my blog-reader, and I am blogging for them as an example to follow.

Anywho, it has been fun teaching them how to blog and use flickr as well as some other online programs and sites.  Some of them have really taken off and are doing cool things with their blogs.  Others, well, they are just trying to get the hang of it. :)

I am enjoying this course because it is a way for them to use English for a "real reason."  I also enjoy seeing them interact with each other both in real life in the classroom and online. 

Now to finally get to the point of this post . . . . One of their recent assignments was to create a slideshow using slide.com to showcase a part of Taiwanese Culture.  Some of them have shared the HTML code for their slide shows with me, so I can share with you!! 

First, for no particular reason, is Stella's slide show.  Her slide show actually covers a few different aspects of Taiwan culture. 

Another student,  Nancy focused on "Stores in Taiwan."  All of her photos are of different kinds of stores in Taiwan.  So, take a look and see what it is like to do some shopping in Taiwan.

I'll post more of their slideshows in the near future!!  Keep an eye out for them and learn even more about the little tropical island we live on! :)

random

Stacy, an IRL friend who also lives here in Taiwan, tagged me while I was taking my bloggy break. 

It's been going around bloggy-world, but just in case here are the meme's rules:

1. Post the rules of the game.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

Random Facts about Amanda:
1. I love peanutbutter and banana sandwhiches.  But, the banana needs to be squashed or smooshed, not sliced, and mixed up with the peanut butter.

2. I can raise my left eyebrow higher than my right eyebrow, but not the other way around.

3. At one time (during highschool), I knew how to say "hello," "yes" and "no" in thirty different languages.  Now I can probably only do about 5-10 for each.  But, this still impress my students.

4. I do not have a credit card.  They actually scare me a little.

5. I love it when my dog licks my face.

6. During the course of my life, I've never lived in the same house for longer than three years.  And, unil junior high, the same thing could be said about living in the same city. 

7. So, I have no "home town," just a "home state." 

8.  Even though I come from Texas and have visited Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, China, and Hong Kong, I have never been to Mexico.

Tags:

Like most memes I do, I don't really like tagging people, so consider yourself tagged if you not yet done this meme and would like to.  I pass the torch to you.