ALY ALLEN | THE BLOG

i'm just gonna get right into it: how many of you know that your mind is really the battlefield when it comes to sin? you don't usually sin out of nowhere. things don't happen out of left field. it starts as a little seed in the mind. tiny, sometimes unnoticed, harmless even. or so you reason . you entertain it more frequently, and you justify it a little more, you convince yourself it isn't so bad. everyone else is doing it. okay, at least a few other people are doing it. i deserve it. i deserve to think or feel this way.  until one day it doesn't look so bad and you partake. in sin. sometimes the thought patterns seem unrelated to the actual sin that's later manifested. t hey're completely related . it's a tangled web we weave, isn't it? that's why it's called deceit. sometimes you figure you can stay out of sin just by keeping busy. that you won't have time to sin if there are too many other things on your plate. gosh, is that ...

okay, so obviously it's fun to get comments on your blog posts... but even more fun than that is being able to reply directly back to the person who left the comment [remember when i had the "commentLuv" system, where i could reply right back to you?] anyway, with blogger, you can enable your email address on your profile so that when you comment on someone's blog, they can actually email you back a direct reply! if you don't know how to enable your email, i'll show you how: first log in to blogger.com.  you'll see your "dashboard"  click on "edit profile" click on "show my email address" [pictured above] that enables your email on comments so that the blog owner can reply to you :) it also puts this link on your profile [pictured below] it doesn't really "show" your actual email address anywhere, except in the notification email that the blog owner receives, like any other email you'd send to someone wou...

i had to share this with you all, in case you haven't already seen it.  Jessi @ Naptime Diaries is amazingly talented. she has a free printable today that you HAVE to go download. it's one of my all-time favorite verses, Psalm 45:11, reminding me of the extravagant beauty that Christ sees in me [only because it's really His own beauty that He's seeing]...  and it reminds me of this post,  about our destiny if we are in Christ. and it also prompts me to suggest that you read Captivating . the end. head over to Naptime Diaries to print it out :) it's a great post, too, so keep reading once you print it!

well, if we were meeting for coffee today, i'd tell you there was a lot going on. first, as soon as you walked in the door, you'd rave about the hoop art and this yarn wreath hanging on the wall. i'd tell you that while i was supposed to be getting ready for the Queen Bee Market next weekend, i managed to sneak in some time to make them, and i couldn't be more pleased with how they turned out! [okay, that's not true. i could be more pleased if it didn't look like m my two year old attached the trim. it's crooked and doesn't line up evenly. and don't get me started on the yarn that's fraying. i'm such a perfectionist with this kind of stuff, but i still do love it for being my first attempt] [totally  copied leslie on the pom pom trim . it adds that perfect finishing touch, huh?  i bought it here  from the sweetest gal] [embellishments have yet to be finished and attached. i'm sort of burnt out on flower-making for now] but t...

i go to a  large church . i sing in the choir and praise team, with the occasional solo. the music department is  bursting   with talent. i've often heard people say that they don't like our church because it's all a big production, a show. i can understand how it may  look  that way from the outside, but it's so far from the truth. we do have great music, and we have the opportunity to do things that other churches may not be able to do... but i wonder if it would be better to suppress all this talent and not allow it to be used for His glory, so as not to offend anyone? i wonder if it would be better not to bring the gospel to the ends of the earth through a growing television ministry, so we don't look like we're showing off?  i think you know the answer to those questions. anyway, i wrote an email to our choir director/worship leader today because i was completely overcome this weekend by the whole thing. overcome by the power of the resurrection, ...

2000 years ago today... the world was forever changed death was defeated. the grave was conquered. Jesus Christ rose triumphantly to life just as He said He would. Hope is the victor. Life is ours to receive. Peace is ours to experience. Grace has been poured out freely, abundantly. Rejoicing comes in the morning. i hope so much that you've believed, trusted, received. He did it all for you. i feel lighter this morning. like a burden has been lifted all over again. do you?  Hope has risen from the grave: alive, victorious and seated at the right hand of Almighty God, actively and constantly interceding  on our behalf.   oh, how he loves us. See, what a morning, gloriously bright,  With the dawning of hope in Jerusalem; Folded the grave-clothes, tomb filled with light,  As the angels announce, "Christ is risen!"  See God's salvation plan,  Wrought in love, borne in pain, paid in sacrifice,...

2000 years ago today.... i was bought with a price. my sin was washed away. Christ endured death on a cross because He loved me. He was betrayed by one of His closest friends. sold out to the chief priests. "tried" and found guilty of simply being Who He was. beaten and flogged relentlessly, until almost unrecognizable as the chosen Messiah. on the brink of certain death. torn and bleeding and dying and thinking of me. He dragged His own cross  halfway up to the place He would die. His body frail, weak, barely functioning. people spit on Him, mocked Him. they utterly disgraced Him. the King of kings and Lord of Lords. He did not say a word  in His defense. 2000 years ago today... Jesus Christ, the savior of the world who had done nothing was put to death, nailed to a cross. yet He willingly suffered so that we might be saved. [because some would never believe] He willingly suffered for the gl...

inspired by yesterday's post , i've added some new prints to  the shop . i gathered up all the verses that i have plastered all over my house [on a 3x5 card in my handwriting] and made prints out of them. they're "print-it-yourself" [i email you the file] unless you come visit me at the Queen Bee Market , where they'll be printed and packaged and ready to frame! here are the new ones [yes, i watermarked them. lame, i know. click on them to get to the listing in my shop to buy] [click here to buy in any color] [click here to buy in any color] [click here to buy in any color] which one is your favorite? i have more that i need to get done, but believe it or not, these take a long time to do!!

well, even though i said i didn't want to finish my Breaking Free study, i did! and here's what i just had to share with you. i write in a prayer journal. and my prayer this morning started out like this:  [copying straight from my journal... not something i'll do very often since these prayers are sacred and precious to me] Lord God, You are creator of the heavens and the earth. Your timing is perfect. it is everything. so Lord, please be my strength as i wait on you... you are the EVERLASTING God. nothing surprises you, nothing is too difficult for you. You do not faint, You don't grow weary. help me to wait on You, and as i do, increase my strength that i might soar on wings like eagles. and then i opened my last Breaking Free lesson, and you wouldn't believe the verse she asked us to look up and meditate on. i've made it pretty for you so it sticks in your mind.  [ feel free to print it out if you want, it's 5x7. just right click and save to your c...

hi friends! i'm new to virtual coffee world, but it looks like lots of fun. thanks for stopping by! if we were having coffee today, i'd be sipping my usual: a teaspoon of instant coffee [ralph's brand organic] with a few tablespoons of hot cocoa [trader joe's organic fair trade]. oh, and i'd be using my cute new mug that our small group pastor and his wife gave us the other night when they came over for dinner. such a  thou ghtful  gift! we'd probably take a seat at my new dining room table, and discuss my big plans for a much cuter and more colorful centerpiece. but for now, the candlesticks are fine. you would probably ask where i got my doily coasters, and i'd give you the link to buy them . and then i'd tell you that  this is why i've been M.I.A. the past couple days. not answering your phone calls and texts, or joining you on all those fun playdates. lots of flower making and lots and lots and lots of headband attaching...

i thought it might be appropriate today, as we round the corner to Palm Sunday, to share something i learned a few months ago through my Breaking Free Bible study. maybe it will change your lif e like it did mine? i want to talk about peace today. probably because i'm really busy right now. this may be more for my good than yours? i tend to get overwhelmed pretty easily, especially if there is more than one outing or event on the calendar in one day. for me, right now, compound that with multiple events, planned for the same day or the same week, 4 really important singing commitments in three weeks [i actually backed out of one of them yesterday, the fifth one, which is a whole 'nother post] , preparing for the queen bee market, and the keeping up with daily life... that's my calendar right now. it makes me crazy just thinking about it. i get stressed and flustered easily, especially if i sleep in and don't have my quiet time before my daughter wakes up. i need p...

well hello, friends [and hopefully family, who have just started reading. hi!] i wanted to pop in and share a little story with you. maybe some of you have already caught wind of this? i read about it on shauna's blog  today.  there's a sweet momma, Danielle , whom i've never met, and she has a blog... and her family is adopting a precious baby boy from Eastern Europe. this little guy, Sergey, has downs syndrome . what i didn't know, and i assume most of you didn't know either, is that if these sweet babies [who are currently staying in orphanages] are not adopted by the time they're 5, they are admitted to adult mental institutions with terrible chances of survival. Danielle explained it this way on her blog: If these children are not adopted between the ages of 4 and 5 they will be sent to an adult mental institution where they will be tied to cribs to live out the remainder of their lives.  Which statistically 95% of these children will die in the very...

a little encouragement for my fellow bloggers: 1 Timothy 4: 8-16 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.  This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance  (and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.  Command and teach these things.   Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young , but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.  Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.  Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you.    Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.  Watch your life ...