Let's Be Honest...

I have been inspired by my sister, Alison of myAvonlea, to write concerning the realities of my heart. The un-sugarcoated, un-exaggerated, unadulterated truth.
I have spent entirely too much of my life, my time, & my walk with the Lord in idleness and denial,  fully ignoring the corruption and becoming unaware of the true darkness of my heart.

A reality check has been long overdue.

My name is Whittney Cassandra Heaven Sheridan & I am an utter fool.

All too often I have held no control over my poisonous tongue
 and I have let it run rampant, setting my whole life aflame and having no concern for who it affected or that I was shaming my Lord.

I have been a total fake.

Conforming to what I observed to be the likes or dislikes of whomever I was surrounded by at the moment.

Compromising what I have been convicted of or believed in to gain the approval of those whose approval I saw as being valuable.

I have harbored hatred in my heart towards those who I believed to be lesser than myself.

Those who I found to be annoying or a nuisance. Such a pompous and prideful woman I have been.
 It is utterly shameful.

In this, I have opened my mouth to say things that bring down others in order to make my self appear better; in doing so, I have shamed both myself, and even worse, my Lord. I am truly the lowest of the low. No self-pity here, just honesty. Please don't feel sorry for me.

I have lived my life constantly comparing myself to others: my physical appearance, my intellegence, my accomplishments, my talents, my spirituality.

(my, my, my, my, my: pride, pride, pride, pride, pride)

I have been consumed in insecurity & lies.

I can't even truly communicate to you how much of my mental capacity has been completely consumed by self-hatred because I am not as thin as so-and-so, or not as accomplished as thus-and-such. And if I wasn't consumed in self-hatred because I didn't quite measure up to the earthly standard I was comparing myself to, I was then consumed in pride because I held the opinion that I was the the better one, believing that I was the one whose talents, intellegence, beauty, and accomplishments were superior. In all truth: I am a simple-minded, average, un-perceptive, wreck apart from the Lord. I truly need His guidance and strength to accomplish anything that is lasting or of value in this life. I am not better than anyone. Pride and self-hatred are two stems of the same branch, and both come from the devil. And the ONLY thing that I ever need to be comparing myself to/measuring myself by is the

Word of God and Jesus Christ.

Meanwhile, the only judgement that I need to be casting upon anyone other than myself is that of Love and Mercy.

 For the very measure with which we judge is the very same measure which we will be judged by. [Matthew 7:1]

I have been a complainer and a grumbler. Wasting my time in complete ungratefulness, when I have so much to be thankful for.

I have done almost anything to get a compliment, to hear a flattery, to have my flesh built up, rather than do anything in my power to the the Lord glorified.

I have been bitter, angry, unforgiving, and selfish.

I have been a slave to the lusts of my heart. Forsaking all, including my Lord to satisfy them.

I have been endlessly vain, conserning myself with outward beauty, rather than the inward beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit that is not easily wrought up.

I waste so much time being lazy, not accomplishing anything and expecting someone else to do it for me.

I have been a user. Using anything and anyone for my personal advantage.

This is who I am, apart from Christ.



I am truly repentant.


I have been truly humbled for the first time in my life. My Lord always condescends from is mighty and glorious throne to show me His love and teach me His ways, and instead of cherishing these teachings, and accepting His love, I have chosen to continue to be a slave to my wretchedness.

No more, I declare, not for a moment more...

In the words of my Lord:

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me, and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing. John 15:5

Apart from Jesus Christ, I CAN DO NOTHING.


Humbly,
Whittney

~~~~~Breakfast Anyone?- Fancy Scrambled Eggs~~~~~

For those of you who like omelets, but are like me and just can't make them right... Here is an idea for a healthy  "wanna-be" omelet breakfast!


What you'll need:

Eggs
Fresh spinach
Feta of your choosing
Mozzarella
Salt and Pepper

Scramble your eggs the way you want them; popcorn dry or almost raw. Add in Spinach first so they have time to wilt.  Add Mozzarella.  Wait to put the Feta in until the eggs are almost done so the Feta wont melt.  I like my Feta to be quite obvious. Salt and pepper to taste.




ENJOY!

Until we meet again,
Sarah

Sarah's Corner

Salutations,

Hmmm, a bio... what to say, what to say... My name is Sarah Elizabeth Shook; recently married to Mr. Brandon Dean Shook.  Brandon and I being together is in the Lord's gracious will.  Despite our blemishes and hick-ups in life, God chose to reach into our lives and lead us to each other.  I am 20 years old and my desired profession is to be stay-at-home wife and mother; helping my husband by running the house and also with my little shop on Etsy called LostInIvorySeas, click here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/lostinivoryseas.  I am very much still in diapers as a shop owner, but I will get better slowly. 

I work currently at a local veterinary clinic, so I am an animal lover.  I prefer the outdoors such as: bike rides, camping, walking, tree climbing, swimming, and exploring!  I prefer explore the outdoors than explore a television or computer, however I do love an occasional good clean movie(BBCs, Hot Led and Cold Feet, Megamind, It's a Wonderful Life, etc) Ever since I was a child I had a hard time focusing and enjoying a book.  You could say I,m not a book worm. I do love learning, but I have a hard time getting into a book.  The only one I really like diving into would be the Word of God.  I feel like if I'm going to invest the time to read I need to read something that is living and active and something that wont return void.  The other books that interest me are geographical books, cultural books, history books, etc etc. I don't much like fictional books.

It excites me going through our (Brandon and I) journey of marriage.  

We are only 5 months in so we are still newlyweds :) Of course it seems like we have been together forever.  The Lord has taught us so much already.  Brandon is a wonderful creation.  He is kind of a gentle ox. He wont show his strength, but oh my goodness he surprises me sometimes.  I don't think I have ever met someone so humble and faithful.  Fun fact: we have practically the same hair.  Both long, dirty blond, and curly.  Many people say we look like brother and sister.  I don't really see it, but oh well.  Brandon has a wonderful sense of humor.  He will practically do anything to make me laugh... I mean ANYTHING!

Don't worry I'm not mad.

This section is devoted to our son... Peri.

Oh the story of Peri... Peri was dumped at the clinic I work at when he was just a couple months old.  He walked up dragging his back legs.  We found a scab on his left shoulder and you can feel a pellet under his skin on the right shoulder area, so we suspect that he was shot and it resulted in paralysis from his shoulder blades down.  We couldn't find anyone to take on this little guy that we found, and if no one took him we would have to put him down.  So........ I took him. He is not able to go potty on his own, so I have to help him. He uses the potty just like us :) He acts like he doesn't depend on me, truly he would not be here if it weren't for me.  I just see it like how so many youngsters are with their parents.  He thinks he can rule the world, but really he can't even go potty with out my help.  Silly silly Peri. He has such a cute personality.  He acts like he doesn't care about what we are doing, but you will always find him in the same room as you.  He loves Brandon so much.  I get jealous sometimes. Oh and by the way I got the name Peri from Paraplegic. Some find that funny some find it sick.  Take your pick.

My maiden name is Blake, I love my Blake family.  My sister, Kristen, is married also.  Now my dad keeps bugging us with wanting grand-kids.  "In due time, dad, in due time".  My sister and I are so much alike.  People say that we don't look alike, but they can tell that we are sisters because of how we act.  Movie quotes make up 75% of our sentences.  Jumping around acting like mohicans. Accents are our favorite.  My mom is wonderful, such a wise woman she is.  My dad is the most kid-like out of all of us.  Always making a joke, or comeback. Goofy goofy goofy.

I am a big fan of diy's and hand making things, so you might see how to make things or recipes on my corner of this blog.  I love to laugh, so you might hear some stories of the day to day funny's of Brandon and me. I hope you enjoy my little spot in this blog.

-Sarah

A Creation in the Making : 1st Edition

Evening before last I was creating an item soon to be listed on narrowAvenue. It is a complex, multi-layered burgundy scarf with an assortment of salvaged buttons, vintage buttons, and random buttons, whose prior whereabouts are currently unknown. :) Here is a little sneak peak of it in the making :

♫ Le Assorted Buttons ♫

♫ Le Burgundy Thread, Le Needle, & Le Buttons ♫

Fun Fact: I took these photos with my cell phone, used my lamp on my nightstand for lighting, and edited them with windows editor on my laptop. I also used some of my old Opera sheet music for the background. The piece is an Opera version "The Lord's Prayer". I sang Opera in college, this was one of my first performance pieces. ♫

♫ Le Crochet Hook & Le Burgundy Yarn ♫

♫ Le Scarf Fraction with Le Button, Le Needle, & Le Thread ♫

♫ Le Sneak Preview ♫

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. [Genesis 1:1] ♫

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

[John 1:1] ♫

Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow [Psalm 51:7] ♫

Yours Truly,

Whittney ♫

Well, hello ...

Well, hello. :) Welcome. My name is Whittney. I am 21 years old, a fervent Christian, a community college grad. I aspire to serve the Lord, create music, inspire children, become a kindergarten teacher, learn to sew, ballroom dance, speak french, share the gospel, and travel the world. I am an opera singing, piano playing, guitar strumming, Bible obsessing, song composing, journal writing, knitting & crocheting, sporadic, compulsive, and curious being. Before I die, I want to please the Lord, travel, marry, bear children, write a book, write a song with sheet music, see an Opera, own a piano, see the northern lights, the trevi fountain, the Eiffel tower, stand firm in Christ, and see my future children sing, laugh, and seek the Lord.

A few sisters in Christ & myself realized that we wanted to start writing of our lives, our Lord, our Etsy shops, our favorite recipes, our experiences, our inspirations, and our lessons learned; hence, a blog was born. Our name, "A Trustworthy Saying", is a quote borrowed from the Apostle, Paul. We hope to place here trustworthy sayings pertaining to life, love, creating, and Christ. I plan to share scriptures, revelations, and a broad assortment of thoughts in written form. Writing is one of my absolute favorite pastimes, which makes me very excited about this.

I am the owner of a little boutique on Etsy called narrowAvenue. I handcraft accessories, mostly crocheted & knitted, but I also have things made with feathers and recycled vintage fabric.  My little shop is just an eclectic collection of things that I've made up as I've gone along. I always take small, basic concepts and then create as many different variations as I can come up with. Amanda taught me to crochet & knit earlier this year and I fell in love with it. I find it to be extremely therapeutic and beautiful. I have found so much solace in spending time alone in my room, creating, and jamming to worship music. <3 But I also love that I can take my crochet & knit projects with me and create while spending time with friends.  Alison is sort of our Etsy mother, because she encouraged us so much to start our shops. She also does most of my photography, & is quite the epic photographer. Stay tuned for shop discounts, exclusive, sales, giveaways, and how-to's <3

You will find, in my corner of the blog, a frequent segment called, "A Creation in the Making". In this segment you will find fun little photos of my creations, well, in the making. :) You will also find scriptures about The Creation, and the occasional meditation about being a New Creation in Christ. I eventually will include photos of my sister's creations in the making as well. So, in conclusion, we welcome you, future blog subscribers, to the collaboration blog of Amanda, Sarah, Alison, & Whittney: A Trustworthy Saying.

Yours Truly,
Whittney