Showing posts with label Blogging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blogging. Show all posts

Monday, August 25, 2008

Blogging - Therapeutic to me and a tool in recovery from depression and coping with bipolar and other challenges in my life

Dear Friends,

Thanks for stopping by!

I am thankful to God for restoring me from a relapse of clinical depression recently. Bipolar disorder is a medical condition with extreme mood swings (manic and depression) which can be treated. I am thankful to God for preserving me through the difficult times of a relapse and strengthening me now.

Thanks for your prayers and encouragements. They mean a lot to me!

As I am on the road of recovery, I am learning to pace myself moderately and prayerfully.

I have at one point of time contemplated giving up on blogging as I found myself spending a considerable amount of time writing on my blog and visiting other's blog. I do a lot of this especially when I am hypomanic :-)

Too much blogging is actually mentally very taxing on me though I don't always realized it. My freelance work is also very taxing as I work on the computer most of time. I suspect my relapse of clinical depression recently was due to overstraining at my freelance work plus blogging.

Should I give up blogging? I prayed and asked the Lord for direction.

It has been a joy and privilege for me to be acquainted with many blogging friends who are suffering from depression, bipolar and other physical or mental conditions.

To be able to share and support one another as we seek to learn to understand and manage our conditions has a great impact upon my life. I felt I have grown much over the last half year of blogging through my acquaintance with such dear friends and learning from various people's experiences. I am learning to understand my condition better and to manage it better.

Ever since I joined Word-Filled Wednesday and Thankful Thursday, God has helped me to grow spiritually.

Word-Filled Wednesday (WFW) reminds me of many precious passages from God's Words. God's Words bring comfort, encouragement and direction in my life. It helps me to know more of God's love, His mercies and His sovereignty. Every visit to WFW blogs and post are very encouraging and refreshing. WFW also gives me opportunities to share my passion in photography and God's Words with others. I am thankful to God for many kind friends who allowed me to use the photographs they took and shared them on WFW. Thanks, Amy Deane, for hosting Word-Filled Wednesday and thank God for giving us this precious opportunities to be reminded and encouraged by His Words and beautifies of His creations!

Thankful Thursday (TT) helped me to count my blessings and to be thankful for God's many mercies. I learn to appreciate little things in life and to be thankful for them. Visiting the various TT blogs have strengthened my faith in God as I read of His goodness to His people in spite of whatever difficulties we face in this fallen world. I read of the power of God sustaining and delivering His people from the trials in their life. I read of how thankful they are admist the challenges of life. I am greatly humbled by the many who find reasons to praise and thank God for little things in life which I sometimes overlooked or took for granted. TT has in some way changed my perspective. It has helped me to be a more thankful and happy person despite the bout of depression I experience every now and then, and the many challenges I face in managing bipolar disorder, my work, my family, etc etc. Thanks, Iris, for hosting Thankful Thursday and thank God for using it to encourage us to count our blessings and know more and more of His love!

I am so thankful for your friendships, dear friends and visitors, and the way you and your blogs or your comments have encouraged me. I am greatly humbled by so many of you visiting me and encouraging me. Your prayers and encouragements mean a lot to me. They are especially precious in my recovery process. God has used all of you to provide the love, friendship and support that I needed very much in my recovery. It makes a lot of difference.

I am thankful to God too for making my posts an encouragement to various people. It is my joy and privilege to share with you God's goodness and mercies to me in managing depression, bipolar and other challenges in my life. God is good to me. I am greatly humbled by the knowledge that what I shared has touched some people's life and I thank God for using such a weak vessel so that His grace and glory may shine through!

In life, we will have our portions of ups and downs. Whether it be depression, bipolar or other physical or mental afflictions, or loss of jobs, loss of loved ones, and other difficulties in life, to have the love and support of family and friends is so precious. Thank God that He is with us and thank God that we can be here for one another!

So in other words, Blogging is therapeutic to me. I am encouraged by so many of you. And when God uses me to encourage you in return, it gives me a sense of satisfaction to know that I can still be useful and contribute despite my infirmities. It helps me to feel useful and challenges me to be more useful, as God enables me.

I have found it a joy to blog. Blogging allows me to share my thoughts and feelings, to verbalise it and to see things more clearly. It has also enriched my life through the vast of information that other bloggers shared through their life, resources they found useful and comfort from God's Words and God's goodness to them.

So here I am, continuing with blogging :-)

But I shall endeavor to pace myself more moderately in order to prevent burn-out and depression, as far as I can. I probably won't be posting on my blog and visiting blogs everyday like what I did before my relapse of clinical depression recently. I have to learn to understand my limitation and work within that boundary. You are in my thoughts and prayers always. I love to visit your blogs but if I am not able to visit you as much as I would like to, I trust you will understand :-)

What about you? Do you enjoy blogging? How has blogging helped you? Or how has blogging changed your life?

Thanks again for stopping by, dear friends and visitors. Your friendship and kindness means a lot to me and I thank God for everyone of you. I pray that God will make me a blessing to you too and that your visit to my blog has been a pleasant and encouraging experience. All praise and glory be to God!

Take care and have a blessed day!

My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever. Psalm 73:26

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Thank God and thank you for your Love and Friendship

Dear Friends and Visitors,

I am thankful to God for the joy and privileges of knowing each one of you, my dear blogging friends and visitors.

Reading your blogs and your comments have been such enriching and encouraging experiences for me!

Your friendships, prayers and encouragements do mean a lot to me. They are tokens of God's love for me and I thank God upon every remembrance of you.

I am thankful to God for causing our paths to cross in such wonderful ways through blogging!

Your presence, love and friendship has made blogging a very wonderful and blessed experience for me. Every one of your comments mean a lot to me even though I may not be able to respond individually to them due to various constraints. Know that they are precious to me and I thank you for leaving notes for me to encourage me!

I pray that God will continue to keep you near to Him and make you a blessing to all that come into contact with you, to His glory. May you continue to grow in your love for the Lord and His people.

2 Awards to share with you!
(Feel free to pass these on or if you prefer not to, it is okay!)

Here are 2 awards that kind friends shared with me and I like to share with all of you, my dear blogging friends and visitors, for the ways your friendships, your blogs and your comments have been such blessings to me.

I will try and list as many of you as I can, and will keep on adding. But if I do incidentally missed you out (I hope I don't!), please forgive me and know that these awards are for you too.

So if you are reading this post, these award belongs to you! Thanks for sharing your love and friendship with me and may we continue to pass this love and friendship on to others.


Sharing The Love Award

Peggy (Mazes, Messes, Miracles...aMazing Grace) loves the Lord and shares freely her writing gift with her readers and she is generous in encouraging fellow bloggers. Peggy has kindly shared this award with all her friends. I would like to share this award with all of you, my dear blogging friends and visitors.

This lovely award is created by Crystal @ Memoirs of a Mommy in honor of Noah and the donor of his sweet little heart who ENCOURAGES us to SHARE THE LOVE ! Thanks Crystal! [Click on Memoirs of a Mommy to learn and read this special love story!] The rules for this award are to pass it along to some people whose blogs you love. They make you laugh, smile, leave encouraging comments on your blog. You would like to share some love with them because they have uplifted, inspired, encouraged or prayed for you. Please include this paragraph with the link to Memoirs of a Mommy so that everyone know where this award originated from.


Friendship Award

Serendipity (Serendipity Park). Serendipity (LS and Happy) have very kind and loving hearts and they love to encourage others. I thank God for their encouragements to me and many others. It is a joy to visit their blog. Their posts, filled with creative writings and beautiful photographs, always make me smile :-)

Serendipity has kindly shared this award with me. I would like to share this award with all of you, my dear blogging friends and visitors. Feel free to pass these on to your precious friends.

So these 2 special awards are for you my dear friends and visitors (I am still adding you....):

A
Above the Clouds Lana G.
A Damsel no longer in distress JesusRulzMe
A happy heart at home Susan
A Life Uncommon Donetta
A Magnolia's Heart Beat Laurie Ann
Amy's Place Amy
Amazing Adventures Await! Erica
Ann Kroeker Ann
A Pink Carnation in Bloom Susie
A Psycho-Therapist with Bipolar Annie
Aroma of Joy Kelly

B
Bears In Exile Love Bears All Things
Bella Mama's Prairie Life BellaMama
Beverly by Grace Beverly
Bipolarity Syd
Blessed Beyond Imagination Kathy
Blessed with Grace Lisa
BPD in OKC Bpd
Breaths of Faith Tammy
Broken Vessels God Chaser

C
Child of the King Jennifer
C h r y s a l i s e-Mom
Clay in the Potter's Hand Colored Heart
Coming Out of the Dark Dream Writer
Critty Joy Critty Joy

D
Daily Provision Janet
Day to Day Miracles JeLalaine
Deanna's Corner Deanna
Depression Introspection Marissa

E
Encouragement From My Heart Lorie (Joyfulsister)
Ever so Dear Diane
Every Moment Matters Jena
Everything to Me aka Puff's Pockets Darlene

F
Faith Prints Tania
14 Fir Street Karen (Mrs Huse Clifton)
Five Minutes of Fame Jane
Flickers of a Faithful FireFly HisFireFly
Forever 'n Ever 'n Always Jill
Forever His Susan
From an Acorn
Fruits of the Spirit Melanie

G
Gratitude Lorri
Gina's Public Diary Gina

H
Happy Wanderer (Ellen b) Ellen b
Heather's Humor Heather
Hip chick's home Hip Chick
Home Sweet Home Deniece
Hope for Each Day Cheryl
How do we get there from here? Peculiar

I
I will take it lord, all you have to give Lori
In Christ Alone Renee
It's All About Him Tricia

J
Jendi's Journal Jendi
Jesus-Filled Hope Tessa
Jim's Deep Thoughts Jim
Joy of Desserts Joy
Joyful Journey Journal Kathy (Pianokat61)
Joyfull Living Joyfull
Joyfully Living for His Glory Chelsey

K
Kiki's Corner Kristi
Kisses From Heaven Mary

L
Life in the Wood Jenelle
Life's Blessings NanaNor's
Living Frugally JadeMerie

M
Maiylah's Snippets Maiylah
Mak!Mej! Mama meji
Mariposa's Tales Mariposa
Married to the Preacher Natalie
Marsha's Musings Marsha
Mary's Writing Nooks Mary
Mazes, Messes, Miracles.... aMazing Grace Peggy
Meditations and Confessions of a Homemaker Sheila
Memoirs of a Mommy Crystal
Multiple Synchronicities & Sclerosis Merelyme
Michele's Morsels Beelieve Michele
Millie Millie
Modobject at Home Mod Girl
Mom Of 4 Saved By Grace Amy
More questions than answer
Mother of Shrek Casdok
Moving the Mountain Mamasmurf
My Cup Runneth Over Tracy
My Life's Journey Pia
My Little Cowboys Kellie
My Name is Danielle Danielle

N
Not a DIY Life Heather

O
Oak Rise Cottage Carrie
One Bipolar Life Precious Rock
One Sacrifice For All Time Amanda
Our Life Tiffanie
Out Standing In My Field Chandy
Ozarks sew n' sew Michelle

P
Pennyraine.com pennyraine
Pockets of Time Lisa (Morning Rose)
Precious Memories Susan
Psychological Perspective Teresa

Q
Quiet Reflections SharonB
Quoth The Rav Becky

R
Raindrops and Rainbows Bp
Reading By the Seashore Ladybug
Redeemed Angela
Reflections in the window Jen
Regalo ng Diyos (God's Gift) Rocks
Remember the Moments alihsee
Rich Gifts Edie
Roller Coaster Marja

S
Safe in His Arms Tonya
Seed Thoughts Tracy (Blessed One)
Serendipity Park LS and Happy
Scattered Stones Kim
Scrapping Servant Carolyn
Sharon Hurley Sharon
Shortybear's Place Denise
Shabby Olde Potting Shed Lea
Simple Life Simply Me PinayMama
SmallWorld SmallWorld At Home
Soulful Sepulcher Stephany
Spin Original PJ
Sting My Heart Iris
Stover Lane Darlene
Sunflower Faith Twinklemom

T
Tales from the Back Acher Chickie Momma
Tea with Tiffany Tiffany
The 160 Acrewoods Amy
The Accidental Pharisee Beth
The CooknTcher Mom Princess
The Happy Wanderer Ellen
The Holley Herald (Steven and Aisha) Aisha
The Journey Back Sherry (MyJourneyBack)
THE KNIGHTLY NEWS Angie
The Liebers The Liebers
The narrow path flmom
The voice of FMLL
The Write Way Teresa
Thirsty For Him Tracy
Thirsty Soul Stephanie
To Know Him Toknowhim

U
Unequally Yoked In Grace Abby

W
warmHarte Beth (Sailorcross)
Wellness Writer Susan
Whispers of the Morning Dawn
Without Fear Pam
Women taking a Stand Laurie
Write From the Heart Lelia

Y
Yellowrose Cottage Tale Linda
"YOUR FRIEND" - CHERYL Cheryl


Here are some instructions on how you can copy these awards to your posts or sidebars:
A) To copy these awards to your posts:

1) Go to my post
2) put your cursor on the picture you want to copy
3) Right click on your mouse
4) Choose "Save image as"
5) Go to a folder in your computer/hard disk
6) Save it in your computer
7) Do the same for the second picture
8) Go to your blog
9) Create a new post
10) Use Add Image and upload the picture from your hard disk to the post (just like the way you will upload any other graphics unto your post)


B) To put these awards to your sidebar

1) Go to your Dashboard
2) Choose Layout
3) Add a Gadget
4) Choose Picture
5) A small window will open up.
6) For Title put "Sharing the Love Award".
7) For Caption, most people thank the person who gives them the award. So if you want, you can put "Thanks Nancie!"
8) Can ignore the Link
9) Image - at from your computer, click at "Browse"
10) Go to the folder where you saved the "Sharing the Love Award". Click at the image and click Open
11) Save the Gadget
12) You can move the Gadget to wherever you want on your Layout
13) Save your layout
14) When you view your blog you will be able to see the award on your sidebar
15) Repeat the steps for the second Image

Let me know if you have any problems with copying the images to your blogs and I will see how best I can help. You can email me at mylifewithbp@gmail.com

Thanks again for your friendships and encouragements. Thanks for stopping by. May God grant you a blessed weekends!

Take care.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Gracious blog awards from kind friends

Dear Friends,

Thank you for stopping by. I like to share some blessings with you today.

I am thankful to God and to kind friends for sharing with me the following blog awards.

I am honored and humbled to receive them and I give all praise and glory to God.

It is my privilege to share these awards with my blogging friends but is a hard decision for me to choose specifically a few because so many of you excel in these categories too and I feel you deserve these awards as well!

But in complying to the rules of these awards, I am pleased to pass these awards to the following friends whom God has used to be great blessings to me :

1) Gratitude with Attitude Award

Jim (Jim's Deep Thoughts) shared with me this "Gratitude with Attitude Award" on 3rd May 2008. (Thanks, Jim, for this lovely award. All praise and glory be to God.)

I am thankful for Jim's friendship.

I enjoyed reading Jim's posts. He is a man after God's own heart. He likes to share of the lessons he learned from God's Words or sermons he heard or books he read. These are very encouraging as they always reflect His love for God and his desire to walk pleasing to God. Do visit Jim, if you can. You will be encouraged by him too.

I would like to share this award with the following blogging friends whom God has blessed me with. They all love the Lord and have GREAT attitudes in their life. I am learning to enjoy their blogs. I am encouraged by their love for the Lord and sincere desire to walk pleasing to Him. Do visit them and you will be blessed too!

1. Iris (Sting My Heart) - Iris hosts Thankful Thursday (TT) and shares God's blessings and her thankful heart with us. She invites us to join her and count our blessings and share our thankful heart too. It has been a great blessing for me to join TT to count God's blessings and to read of God's goodness to so many others. Do join us at TT, if you can!

2. Melanie (The Fruits of the Spirit). Melanie is a woman after God's own heart. She loves to share what she is learning from the Bible with us. Her posts have many insights and encouragements from the Bible.

3. Sharonb (Quiet Reflections). Sharonb loves the Lord and she writes and share the devotional thoughts or experiences that God is teaching her daily. Her posts reflect her desire to submit to God's teachings and walk in His ways.

4. Tracy (My Cup Runneth Over). Tracy writes and shares the devotional thoughts or experiences that God is teaching her daily. Her desire is to encourage others and share the hope, joy and love of Jesus, through the overflow of her grateful heart.

5) Edie (Rich Gifts). Eddie loves the Lord and her greatest desire is to have Great faith in God. I am encouraged by her love for the Lord and desire to walk in His ways. In her own words, "My greatest desire is to have Great faith in God. The kind that will step out into the unknown and truely Trust Him with all that is within me. I'm not there yet but working on it. "For without Faith it is impossible to please God..." (Hebrews 11:6)"

***************************

2) Kind Blogger Award

Melanie presented me with this kind award on 21 July 2008. (Thanks, Melanie, for this kind award. All praise and glory be to God.)

I am thankful to God for Melanie's friendship and her kind words of encouragements.

Melanie is a woman after God's own heart. She loves to share what she is learning from the Bible with us. Her posts have many insights and encouragements from the Bible. Her love for the Lord and sincere desire to walk pleasing to Him is so evident in her posts! Do visit Melanie and you will be encouraged by her too.

I would like to share this award with the following blogging friends who God has blessed me with. These friends have shown much kindness to me and others through their writing, in prayers and encouragements and in their many wonderful ways. Do visit them and you will be greatly blessed!

1. Darlene (Blog: Stover Lane). I am thankful to God for Darlene's friendship. She prays for me constantly and leave little notes for me to let me know that she cares. God used her and many others during my most difficult moments to let me know that He cares for me. Darlene shares very generously on her blogs when she finds useful information on others blogs or encouraging videos.

2. Jim (Jim's Deep Thoughts). Jim awarded me with Gratitude with Attitude Award above. He has a great attitude himself and he loves the Lord. He writes on various topics and has a compassion for others who are suffering because of what Christ has done for him in his own sufferings.

3. Jennifer (Blog: Child of the King). Jennifer is a sweet and dear friend whom God sends to me. She loves the Lord and she encourages me with her prayers and sweet little notes. Her desire to walk with God and honours Him in her decisions, are great encouragements to me. I thank God for her.

4. Denise (Shortybears Place). Denise has a very kind and loving heart. She is always encouraging others though she herself is afflicted in her health. She loves the Lord and find her strength and joy in Him daily. Her blog is also very sweet, just like her :-)

5. Peggy (Mazes, Messes, Miracles...aMazing Grace). Peggy is very gifted in her writing and I enjoy her writings. She loves the Lord and shares freely her writing gift with her readers and she is generous in encouraging fellow bloggers.

6. Serendipity (Serendipity Park). Serendipity has a very kind and loving heart and she loves to encourage others. I thank God for her encouragements to me and many others.

*******************

3) The “Arte y Pico” Award

The “Arte y Pico” award was created to be given to bloggers who inspire others with their creativity (whether it be writing or artwork in all media), design, interesting material, or also contributions to the blogger community, no matter what language.

Sharonb very kindly shared this award with me and other bloggers on 26 July 2008. I am thankful for her kindness and large-heartedness. Sharonb loves the Lord and I enjoy her posts on the devotional thoughts or experiences that God is teaching her daily.

Edie kindly shared this award with me on 31 July 2008. I am thankful for her kindness and encouragements. I am encouraged by her love for the Lord and desire to walk in His ways.

I would like to share this award with the following blogging friends who God has blessed me with. These friends have encouraged me in their writings, creativities, kindness and contributions to the blogging communities in their various gifted ways. Do visit them and you will be greatly blessed!

1. Michelle (Ozarks sew n' sews). Michelle is very gifted in cross-stitch and other sewings. Her blog is beautiful. She is also a very excellent photographer and I especially love to see the photos of her cross-stitch and that of her husband (yes, Jack loves cross-stitch too!) and cute Katie (you will smile too when you see her).

2. AmyDeane (The 160 Acre Woods). AmyDeane hosts Word-Filled Wednesday (WFW) where she shared her photography skills with us by adding encouraging Bible verses to it. If you love to share photos or pictures with Bible verses, do join us at WFW. I have been greatly blessed by the many beautiful photos and encouraging Bible verses posted by the various participants of WFW.

3. Marja (Roller Coaster). Marja loves the Lord and is always hopeful in Him in the face of many challenges in her life. Marja is interested in writing about mental health issues, especially encouraging a more understanding view by the church. In an effort to help her church give support to people with mood disorders, Marja has started a support group called "Living Room". Now she is encouraging groups to start up elsewhere. Marja has been a great blessing, encouragement and help to those who attend Living Room and those of us who read about her experiences there, her books she has written as well as how the Lord helps her to live for Him and serve Him in her various gifted ways.

4. Susan (Wellness Writer). Susan is a writer and she shares generously on her wellness strategies and her own experiences on handling depression, bipolar, handling irrational anger, overcoming fear, and other challenges in life. She has helped many by her sharing and I have benefited too.

5. Serendipity (Serendipity Park). Serendipity is a gifted and creative writer. She also takes lovely pictures. Her posts always make me smile :-)

Here are the rules:

1. Share this award with 5 blogs that you consider to deserve this award whether for creativity, design, interesting material or contributions to the blogger community, no matter what language.

2. Show the award and include the name (and link to his/her blog) of whoever present you with this award.

3. Name each nominee and link to his/her blog.

4. Link to "Arte y Pico" blog so everyone will know the origin of this award.

5. Post these rules.


To each of the recipients above, I thank God for you and the way you and your blogs have been such great blessings to me! You well deserve these awards and so much more!

I am also thankful to God for Colored Heart, Peggy and Serendipity for sharing the following awards with me:


Flower Award

Colored Heart (Clay in the Potter's Hand) loves the Lord and it is encouraging to read of her close walk with God, always seeking to please Him.

Colored Heart writes very well and I enjoy her writing. She is also a very encouraging person and loves to encourage others.


Awards to share with all

I am thankful to God for the joy and privileges of knowing each one of you, my dear blogging friends and visitors. Many of you do serve the above awards though I am not able to name each one of you. Your contributions to the blogging community have made blogging such a wonderful experience for me!

Your friendships, prayers and encouragements do mean a lot to me. They are tokens of God's love for me and I thank God upon every remembrance of you.

I pray that God will continue to keep you near to Him and make you a blessing to all that come into contact with you, to His glory. May you continue to grow in your love for the Lord and His people.

Here are 2 awards to share with all of you, my dear blogging friends and visitors. If you are reading this post, these award belongs to your too! Thanks for sharing your love and friendship with me and may we continue to pass this love on to others.


Sharing The Love Award

Peggy (Mazes, Messes, Miracles...aMazing Grace) is very gifted in her writing and I enjoy her writings. She loves the Lord and shares freely her writing gift with her readers and she is generous in encouraging fellow bloggers.

Peggy has kindly shared this award with all her friends. I would like to share this award with all of you, my dear blogging friends and visitors. If you are reading this post, this award belongs to your too! Thanks for sharing your love with me and may we continue to pass this love on to others.

This lovely award is created by Crystal @ Memoirs of a Mommy in honor of Noah and the donor of his sweet little heart who ENCOURAGES us to SHARE THE LOVE ! Thanks Crystal! [Click on Memoirs of a Mommy to learn and read this special love story!] The rules for this award are to pass it along to some people whose blogs you love. They make you laugh, smile, leave encouraging comments on your blog. You would like to share some love with because they have uplifted, inspired, encouraged or prayed for you.

Friendship Award

Serendipity (Serendipity Park). Serendipity has a very kind and loving heart and she loves to encourage others. I thank God for her encouragements to me and many others. She is also a gifted and creative writer. She also takes lovely pictures. Her posts always make me smile :-)

Serendipity has kindly shared this award with me. I would like to share this award with all of you, my dear blogging friends and visitors. If you are reading this post, this award belongs to your too! Thanks for sharing your friendship with me and may we continue to pass this friendship on to others.

Thanks again for your friendship. Thanks for stopping by. May God grant you a blessed weekends!

Take care.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Blogging - Another therapeutic activity for me to cope with depression and bipolar mood swings

Dear Reader,

Do you enjoy blogging? What makes you start your blog? Or if you are a visitor without a blog, what makes you return to read someone's blog? What makes you come back to read my blog?


I thankful to God for enabling me to start this blog around February this year ie. February 2008. I have found blogging to be very therapeutic to me in my coping with my depression and my bipolar mood swings. And thank God this blog also benefits other readers as well.

I write quite regularly, as you can see. Partly because I love writing and it helps me to cope with my depression or manic due to bipolar disorder. Partly also because I desire to share with others my life experiences and God's goodness to me, as well as resources that I have found useful to manage depression and bipolar disorder or Bible verses/sermons/books/other articles I have read and found useful.

Blogging enables me to share my thoughts and feelings and to kind of release them. Sometimes by doing so, I can see things from a different perspective. When others visit my blog and left their comments, they also helped me in many ways. Comments usually bring cheers. Sometimes a short comment left by someone can really make my day :-)

I used to write long emails or letters to friends before I started blogging. Yes, I write letters :-) I am one of those old-fashioned, rare specifies. I know few people in the modern world today write letters. But I do. And I love doing so.

But one complain I often get when I write letters or emails to people and I suspect even when I post on my blog ;-) is that I write too long. I am too long-winded, they said :-) Hmm... I don't quite know how to handle this. I always feel I have so much to say and writing short messages can't quite express how I feel. There was one incident in the past, when I got scolded by a friend for writing long emails to her. She said she is too busy and have no time to read my emails :-( Now I hardly write to my friends as most of them do not reply. I am not sure whether they got the mails, whether they read them or they find them burdensome. Just waiting for a reply from them can sometimes almost drive me crazy! Now I am corresponding only with a handful of friends who haven't got tired of my writings yet :-)

Most of the time, I am sharing my thoughts and feelings and resources on this blog almost daily. And I also visit my blogging friends as often as I can. In the blogging world, I feel accepted and appreciated. Besides this blog which is my personal online diary, I have another blog which is dedicated solely to Resources I have found useful on the internet on managing depression, bipolar plus some personal growth articles. I also have some other hobbies blogs where I share my passion on making bookmarks, homemade crafts and gifts, photography, Christian articles/books and my freelance work. I am active mainly on this blog as I use it as an online journal or diary and almost daily I record my thoughts and feelings here.

Actually, I didn't know what is a blog or what is blogging until quite recently. You might laugh. But when I first started this blog, I still didn't know much about blogging. I just wanted to share my story and useful resources with others. A brother-in-Christ suggested this idea to me. I have a website but hardly anyone seems to be visiting and so I decided to try blogging instead as it is free.

When I first started this blog, I wasn't quite sure what I can or cannot put on my blog. I also wasn't sure what I can or cannot write on others' blog comment. I was a little fearful of "breaking the rules" of blogging.

One of my brothers, Daniel, has been blogging since a few years back and I visited his blog on and off. He is in Malaysia and he shares his life and activities on his blog. He is quite a funny person and so he posts all kinds of things on his blog and I always laughed when I visited his blog. So I read his blog on and off but I have no idea what blogging is really all about.

Recently, when Daniel visited me, he finally gave me the definition for a blog! He said a short and sweet definition for a blog is "An Online Diary". Daniel said my blog is my online diary and I can blog about anything I want. I can write anything that I want to write and share with the public. He reminded me that what I write on my blog is on a public domain. So he said, don't post anything that you don't want others to know ;-)

Daniel also said there is no hard and fast rule on posting comments on others' blogs. The owner of the blogs have every right not to publish any comments if they prefer not to. Same thing for me. I can choose not to publish any comments that I don't wish to.

I thank God for the wonderful experience I have had since I started blogging in February. I have enjoyed sharing my life experiences, God's goodness to me, and the resources I found helpful to me or the Bible verses/books I read with others.

One the greatest blessing I derived from blogging is that I have been able to "meet" many friends through the world of blogging. I have never expected this at all! I am learning new things daily from my blogging friends. I love to read and write. And in some sense, I have found "like-minded" people. My blogging friends are from different parts of the world and they blog about any topics under the sun :-)

I am thankful too for a few Penpals I have "met" through blogging! This is wonderful. I used to have penpals when I was a teenager. And now having penpals again when I am forty++ is really nice :-) Thanks for writing to me, dear Penpals :-)


Here's a big "THANK YOU" to you, dear Reader, who are reading my blog. Thank you for stopping by. I hope what you are reading here on this blog are helping you in some ways.

And a big "THANK YOU" too to all of you, my dear Blogging Friends, for visiting me whenever you can and leaving me kind comments to share your thoughts and feelings with me after you read my posts, or just to let me know you have visited. Thanks to all of you!

And a big "THANK YOU" also to all of you, my dear Penpals, for writing to me and choosing me as you Penpal :-)

One thing I found that is helpful in blogging is to try and remember to leave a comment whenever possible. It seems to bring some encouragement to fellow bloggers to know that what they have posted has helped others or to hear opinions others have. Or maybe just to know someone cares and have visited them. So I hope you don't mind me leaving my comments all over your blogs when I visit your blogs :-)

Oops, here I go again. I think I am getting too long-winded again :-)

Today, I thank God for all of you and for the way He is making my life more colourful through blogging.

Thanks for stopping by. Do leave me a comment, if you can, to share your thoughts and feelings with me! It makes my day :-)




This is meant to make you laugh :P


Hope you have a blessed day!


Take care.