The Starlight Blogger Award

Back in June, I was very humbled to learn that my fellow blogger Julie from The Reluctant Baptist had nominated Elihu’s Corner for the Starlight Blogger Award.

The first part of the nomination is to answer three questions from the giver. So, here it goes!

What is your best quality, talent and/or genius?

This is a difficult question to answer, Julie.

I’m not sure that I have a quality, talent or genius that hasn’t been given me from the Lord. Most people tell me that I have the gift of expressing and explaining things well in writing, so I will address that one. God put some awesome people in my life who effectively trained me as a writer and a thinker.

I am very thankful to my parents for stimulating critical thinking and analysis at an early age. The Bible was not an afterthought in our home. It was discussed often.

My Father gave me the gift of writing by demonstrating the best ways to craft sentences and paragraphs when I began composing essays in elementary school.

Mr. Jones, my 8th grade science teacher taught me the importance of rooting and grounding yourself in your faith when he told the entire class that Christians are stupid. Yes, he said that, and I am thankful because it taught me the importance of knowing intimately what you believe and why. I endured his class shortly after I became a Christian. It was excellent training.

When I was a teenager, we had a home bible study teacher, Cecil MacFarland, who compelled me and my family to dig deeply into the Bible. My high school AP English teachers Mr. Ferguson and Mr. Windrem taught me how the finer points of dissecting and analyzing English literature and language. I never realized how interesting studying the book of Job could be with a bunch of high school kids… many of whom did not believe in God.

Professor William Fitzhenry from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo taught me how to analyze Shakespearean language (which is incredibly helpful for the King James Version of the Bible) and how to effectively argue through writing.

What contribution would you like to make to society?

I want to raise my children to seek the Lord with their whole heart. It sounds like a small contribution, but leaving a legacy of godliness has a huge impact on the world. Furthermore, I’d love to encourage people to be strong and courageous in the Lord. I see so many people who do not really know God and therefore they don’t stand courageously for His Word or His principles.

What is your biggest dream?

On earth? Well, my biggest earthly dream is to write a best-selling book that challenges people to stand for the Lord and not back down in the face of opposition. I want fan the fire in their hearts so that they seek the Lord with their whole heart. I want it to be as stimulating as Thomas Paine’s Common Sense was to the Thirteen Colonies.

But my biggest dream is what waits for me beyond—our heavenly home, our undiscovered country. I long to be there and can, at this time, only dream of forever dwelling in the presence of the One who has loved me from the beginning.

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Now on to the second part of the Award: Nominations!

1) Rebecca Miller over at A Christian Worldview of Fiction. Rebecca writes beautifully! I love the depth of her analyses and insights.

2) Edmond Sanganyado at Chronicles of a Kid Next Door has shared some lovely insights and helped us bloggers find good tools as well!

3) Phillip Long at Reading Acts does very thorough book reviews and has shared ideas about Paul that have been eye-opening for me!

4) Samaritan Song has some many thought-provoking posts about the in’s and out’s of Christian living.

5) Greta at The Beautiful Hart Project exudes joy and wonder about the life of a Christian. Her posts always bring a smile to my face.

6) Curtis Poor at Dipsao (“Dipsao” means to thirst or desire earnestly) has posted some excellent thoughts recently about Victory and Change. Both posts were beautifully done.

Award Rules:

•Nominate your 6 favorite bloggers! In your nominees I would like for you to think at the light emanating from the stars the ones that truly touch your soul with their work, the ones that are the light for you a true STARLIGHT Blogger.

•Thank the giver and link their Blog to your post.

•Answer the 3 new questions from your nominator given to you.

•Please Pass the award on to 6 or more other Bloggers of your choice and let them know that they have been nominated by you.

Include the logo of the award in a post or on your Blog, please never alter the logo. Please don’t delete this note: the design for the STARLIGHT Bloggers Award has been created from YesterdayAfter is a Copyright image you cannot alter or change it in any way just pass it to others that deserve this award. Copyright 2015 © YesterdayAfter.com – Design by Carolina Russo

My questions to the new nominees:

1) What is the prevailing message that you want to get across to your readers?

2) What is your source of inspiration?

3) What contribution do you want to make to society?

Thank you, Julie, for honoring me with this nomination. God be with you.