Personality Quizzes

You know those silly personality quizzes you see on Facebook or that pop as an advertisement when you're browsing the web? They say things like "What Disney Princess are you?" or "What does the way you clench your fist say about your personality type?" (I'm not making this up, I've taken quizzes like that when I'm bored.) They can be fun but they're generally pretty useless. So what's the point of them? Better yet why do people refer to them?

Have you ever had a conversation with someone when they say something like "Oh, have you taken this personality test?" and it's not something like "What flower are you?" but has a professional sounding name attached. So you shake your head and say no and they say, "Oh you should! It's so interesting."

Now these are intelligent people that we're talking about so where on earth are they coming from?

Well, believe it or not, there are companies who do crazy amounts of research to put some of these tests together. The serious ones that is. And other companies will have whole teams take the tests and restructure around the results. Crazy right? But what's crazier is it works! Some of those companies have amazing results!

So why do I know about this?

Well as you all know I'm a writer. And my current project is restructuring a book. One of the things I need to do is really find a way to bring my characters to life in more than just my own head. So I'm working on character profiles. A suggestion from a friend was to put the characters through a personality quiz.

By the way if you've ever taken a personality quiz (one of the serious ones) you know that some of the questions really make you think before you answer. So, now imagine doing that for someone else. It's not easy but I tried it for the first time yesterday and it was surprisingly helpful. It gave me insights into my character, Amy, that I hadn't had before.

There's a fun idea for your weekend, look up a recommended personality quiz online and see what results you get. Maybe you'll agree, maybe you won't. If you're willing post a comment saying whether or not you agree with your results. I'd love to hear from you!

Thinking Computers

I sit down at my (finally clean) desk, turn my laptop on and finish my morning devotional. Seeing as it's Friday I realize I need to check the weather forecast to see if it would be a good weekend to go hiking with friends. So, smiling at the picture that has been loaded onto my lock screen, I type in my password and enter "weather forecast" into the search bar.

And the computer responds "Thinking"

...

What exactly is my computer thinking about? I somehow doubt it's the beautiful green forest scene that's the current background, or how the accent color changes every time the picture does. Is it thinking that I look strange, leaning back in my chair? Maybe it's wondering why I haven't turned on a light, unaware of the headache that's just begging to come out and play.

Possibly it's using the camera to study my surroundings, wondering at the girl that owns it and works hard away- typing out her blog, stories, emails, and lists for whatever events are coming up. As it looks around I wonder what it sees-
Dirty clothes in a pile because I left the laundry basket by the washing machine, a towel hanging on the Nordic Trek exercise machine because I don't use it as often as I should. Pictures galore hanging on the wall from a few of the different kids in my life. Verses and quotes written on note cards to remind me daily of what's important. Pink flowers on the calendar hung up to try to keep my life on track. A stack of books on the blanket chest because my bookshelf is full. And a fan set up to keep the room from getting too hot.

Or maybe it's wondering about the strange look on my face and trying to decide why I immediately open up this blog to write a post on the computer about what that same computer is thinking. (Because that's not strange or ironic at all.)

Perhaps my lovely laptop is planning some evil takeover, calling out to other computers so they can all crash at the same time, causing massive panic and chaos to spread through the world and allowing the computer's friends- the evil robots to come in and take over! Or maybe I shouldn't have watched "I, Robot" way back when.

Whatever the computer is or isn't thinking I'm glad that it works, what would I do without you computer?

Hey, maybe that's what it's thinking.

Be Present

Tuesday morning I got on Periscope and listened to my friend, Cara Grandle, on her weekly Writer's Encouragement Show. Of the many awesome points she talked about there was one in particular that stood out to me.

Being present.

Do you have any idea how hard that is? To actually slow down and be present in the moment.

I'm almost always focusing on my schedule or looking forward to whatever's coming next. So how do I slow down and be present?

Well her message was definitely divine timing because my nieces, Ella and Addy, are here visiting this week. It's a busy week and there's so much work to get done, writing and editing always waiting for me, research books that need studying and of course, Easter right around the corner. But instead of focusing on all that God constantly brought Cara's words back to mind.

Be present.

The girls are five and two. They're growing up so fast and I need to cherish every moment that I have with them. These are special days with the girls. Days that I can never get back so I don't want to waste them.

It's more then just being present with the girls though. I have to learn to be present with God.

Like I said Easter is this weekend. Good Friday is the day we remember that Christ died on the Cross for our sins. Resurrection Sunday is the day that we remember He didn't stay in the grave but rose again and is now in heaven but will return again some day.

I don't think that there could ever be a better holiday to take a break from the celebration and focus on God, be present in His presence and remember His sacrifice and the good news of His resurrection.

Happy Easter and may God bless you as you remember Him and His blessing of the Cross and the empty grave!

By the way if you want to read the Easter story look up www.biblegateway.com and check out Matthew 27:11-28:8

Count Your Blessings

We've all heard the song:
'Count your blessings,
Name them one by one...'

But some days it's a lot harder to look at things as blessings. We've talked on here before about changing your perspective, focusing on the good instead of the bad but this week let me give you some examples from my last couple of days.

It started Thursday night when I was heading up to bed and my dog decided she wanted to go out again before she settled down. It was cold outside and I was already in my pajamas but rather then let my irritation get the best of me I tried to be thankful that I wasn't asleep yet and I took her outside
.
Then came 3 a.m. when she decided to wake me up again to go outside. This time it was a little
harder to find something to be thankful for but I thanked God that it wasn't raining and it wasn't too cold and I took the time to ask Him to keep me from being grumpy when it was time to get up Friday morning.

6:30 rolls around when a huge gust of wind pulls up some of the roofing and makes quite a racket but I was thankful that there was someone else to get up on the roof and deal with it. At this point I realize we've lost power but there's nothing I can do about it so I went back to sleep, another blessing by the way since I didn't have any trouble falling back asleep.

7:30 and my alarm on my phone goes off, there's still no electricity so I can't start the laundry that needs to be done or work on my computer and after our middle of the night outing the dog is perfectly content to stay in bed for a while which means I got to sleep in!

Finally it's time to get up and guess what... still no power =( but at work Dad had thought ahead and made coffee and put it in a thermos so I still could get a cup of hot coffee despite no electricity. (This, combined with the extra sleep, made it much easier to not be grumpy and was answer to my prayer.) That's about the time I discover that with the roofing coming up earlier some water came in and the floor's partially flooded but never fear because we have the blessing of a mop! And a mop bucket on wheels which makes life so much easier. Plus when the rain came in none of it hit the shelves so none of our products got wet! Thank you Lord!

Next chore was to get the generator running and once Dad was able to do that he set stuff up so we could keep the store running Friday and run the fridge and freezer so we didn't lose any product, he hooked up WiFi so I was still able to get some stuff done and even hooked up the stove so that it didn't get too cold. Although one of my thankful prayers did include the fact it's not winter so even if the stove wasn't running we wouldn't freeze.

Well, it was a little concerning when the power company had no idea what time the lights would be back on and it put everyone's plans for the weekend in jeopardy but then, one of the best blessings of the day, the lights came back on! We didn't have to open the store late or close early, I was able to get home in time to take care of several things that needed done (including my laundry) and no one had to change their plans! That's a blessing!

So yeah, the power was out for 11 hours, the dog was restless and the storm tried to mess up our roof but the power came back on, the dog settled down and slept much better Friday night then she had the night before and the roof stayed in tact. Definitely a lot of blessings from this adventure, including the one where God reminded me to keep focused on the good He was providing and not the crazy circumstances I sometimes find myself in.

Soundtrack

A week or so ago the skies were gray and the rain was coming down, putting a dreary mood on the whole day. That morning I received a text from a good friend talking about how this song made it all a little better for her.

"Do you ever have a hard day and then listen to a song and all is a bit better? Flawless by MercyMe is my song today.

No matter the bumps
No matter the bruises
No matter the scars
Still the truth is
The cross has made
The cross has made you flawless

When I texted her back I told her that my song for the morning that had cheered me up and helped with my day was Just Be Held by Casting Crowns.

Hold it all together
Everybody needs you strong
But life hits you out of nowhere
And barely leaves you holding on

So when you're on your knees and answers seem so far away
You're not alone, stop holding on and just be held
Your world's not falling apart, it's falling into place
I'm on the throne, stop holding on and just be held
Just be held, just be held

Like my friend said, sometimes a song can change your whole perspective on a day. Whether it's the reminder from MercyMe that the Cross has made you flawless or a message from Casting Crowns to focus on Jesus because He is in control. Maybe it's a note of encouragement you need or the first prompting to forgive or reach out. Maybe it's not a song at all. Maybe it's a verse, or a book, or even a rainbow that reminds you of God's promises. God speaks to us in so many different way through so many different sources. We just have to be willing to listen.

Whatever it is and whatever source it comes from find your soundtrack and let God speak to you through it today.