Once Upon a Time....

…there was a girl named Amy, who was living somewhere in her 20s, and was better known as the older sister of Bethany and Carissa. She realized one day that there really isn't too much to say in explanation of herself, especially if she prefers not to get weird looks from people. Most of those weird looks originate due to that fact that one of her best and most practiced hobbies is thinking. However, if you think that's strange, the best thing to do is to try it out for yourself–likely, you'll find you can't stop either! In addition to thinking, she also really likes art, good stories, and getting to know people. Most of all, there is Jesus and there is truth, and those are the best Ones to ever love and know.

A very hearty welcome, Amy! I really enjoyed meeting you and your family back in June 2014!
Don't know if you and I have the same defanition of "thinking" or not… but I do it too. I know what you mean about getting strange looks. :)

P.S. One thing that I have learned about you is that you like to make people happy. ;)

I'm so glad you've decided to stick around, Amy! :D

Hi, Amy!
I'm not sure if you remember me or not, but I enjoyed getting to know your family better last fall!

Konnichiwa, Amy-chan! ^ _ ^

Welcome to Memverse, Amy!

Welcome, Amy! Glad to have you here. =]

I wish I could have thinking as a "practiced hobby." XD I used to sit around and think a lot more than I do now… I let too many things get in the way..

@Sarah: A very hearty "thank you" :) It was nice to meet you and your family last year, as well! Fun memories! How do you describe the kind of thinking you like to do? We can see if we mean the same thing! And you're right, I do like making people happy. :)

@Rachel: Nice to be here. :)

@anna: Yes, I remember you! It was fun spending time with you & your sisters at Bible Bee last year!

@Damian: I believe I understand correctly that you are Sam? I'm not certain what you said to me, but it sounded welcoming, so I thank you!

@MV Court Adviser: (Would that be your first, middle, and last name? ;)) Thank you!

@Christian: Nice to be here- thanks! (Though I'm still going to try not to hang out on the internet too much. XD) Ah, life has a way of getting in the way of thinking. Unfortunately, sometimes I just ignore that I have a lot of other things I should be doing, and just think anyway. ;)

Welcome, Amy!

A couple things you need to know about the forums:

1. Those who have been here for a while, as well as those who request, are even given a MV job. Ian here, is the MV Court Adviser. Sam is the King… and I was the MV Court Scribe until, apparently, Sam banned me from that job. Of which, I still have to figure out, because I was quite enjoying my position.

2. And the King of the forums (AKA Sam) is learning to speak Japanese, so he often uses Japanese terms here on the forums. His greeting to you was one of the warmest style.

And… I'll get back with you if there are any other little things you need to know about these forums.

Konnichiwa means "hello." :)

My kind of thinking is one that wanders off on many rabbit trails at times. I will start out very excited about a certain thought and will plan on pondering it but somehow I get sidetracked and then I have to try to backtrack my thoughts to try to figure out what I was so excited about thinking about. ;) It's a very complicated way of thinking and makes it rather hard to try to communicate what I am trying to think about when someone askes me "What are you thinking about, Sarah?"
My brain is always running - so if I ever answered the above question^ with "sigh Nothing." It's because I'm too confused to try to confuse someone else with my confusion. :)
Other times I'm just daydreaming.

What kinds of things do you like to ponder? Some of my favorites are: 9/11, Egyptian mummies (and other ancient cultures), how God ordains everything, constellations, and the many different types of people in the world. I also like to try to think of Bible verses or Bible stories that fit different situations… that can keep me occupied for a long time. :)

@Bethany- Thank you for the welcome and the helpful advice. :) What does the MV court adviser do?
P.S. An extra thank you to Sam for the greeting of "warmest style" :)

@emma: Thank you! I shall remember that!

@Sarah: Hey! You and me both! Especially about it being complicated to explain to people. Like, "how do I even put this into words? Can I just give you a photo of my mind? o.O" It can be hard to get productive thinking done when one travels rabbit trails as much as I tend to do, and it sounds like we're similar in that way.

Here's a rabbit trail I happened to map out one day, to show the way my thoughts can wander:
1) The Church - 2) Advice on life from a church member - 3) The way people's perspective on one topic can differ drastically - 4) Differing individuality/personality between people - 5) Love for unsaved people - 6) Depravity of human nature.

You can see it…wanders a lot. ;)

Those are some very interesting topics you like to ponder! I'd enjoy hearing your thoughts on any or all of them if you ever feel like sharing. Some of my favorite topics are….art (and the way art relates to lessons about life), books I've read, analyzing and studying people and personality, the meaning of life, and Truth. :)

@Christian: Nice to be here- thanks! (Though I'm still going to try not to hang out on the internet too much. XD) Ah, life has a way of getting in the way of thinking. Unfortunately, sometimes I just ignore that I have a lot of other things I should be doing, and just think anyway. ;)

Yeah… tell me about it. Both the "trying not to hang out on the internet too much" part and the "life getting in the way of thinking" part. xP

Maybe I should follow your example and ignore every once in a while in order to experience the joy of thinking. It's a bit pragmatic, but we're all pragmatic every once in a while, aren't we? ;)

Welcome, Amy! :)

@Christian: Do it! There's too much depth to life that we miss out on in the hurried busyness of getting lots done. Sometimes the most profitable thing we can do, is just stop and think. :) (I think in some ways that goes along with Biblical instruction to be still before the Lord and know that He is God.)

@Esther: Thank you!

Since we like thinking (and since I mainly made this IY page just so I could keep track of all conversations I have with people in one handy spot), I shall enlist your participation in my thinking. Periodically, I’m going to post a thought and corresponding question, for anyone to chime in on. Whenever y’all feel inclined to add your thoughts to the present question on the page, please do so! (If you’re going back to share on a previous thought, that’s great, just note in your post which thought/question you’re talking about. :))

#1—Be Humble Before God

The Bible has a lot to say about humility, not only through quantity of content (there are simply a lot of verses talking about this), but in quality of blessing as well (promises for the humble are amazing!). God draws near to the humble, dwells with them, and promises them revival.

Sometimes we get humility because God has to humble us—a disciplinary sort of action taken towards those who do not humble themselves. In contrast to that we are given the opportunity to “humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,” thus being in a position to receive the rich blessings that belong to the humble.

What I want to know, is how do we do this? I want to receive God’s blessing—to have Him draw near to me and dwell with me–I'm sure we all do, so the question has to be asked, "how?" Practically speaking, what does it look like to humble ourselves before God? What are ways in which we can obey this instruction in our everyday lives? I know there’s lots of different ways this can look, so share your thoughts!

Yeah! A photo of my mind would be totally epic! I would do it all the time just for my own personal use. Ha! The funny thing is that I hardly need it because I have a very good memory for events. Tell me, when you did Bible Bee did you memorize verses well you drew or painted? And when you looked at your art you remembered the verse(s)? That's how my brain works. :) Are numbers hard for you to remember, but words are easy? Are you left handed? Did you walk before you crawled? Okay - my brain is getting away from me. :P lol!
(All of those questions are related to to original topic in a rabbit trail kinda wa;))

I enjoy pondering books too - especially certain Theological books that get me really cranked up. Most of the time things I've read get intermixed with my other topics of thought. Personalities!!! Oh my! squeals Let me get started!!! XD lol Have you ever taken this kind of personality test: http://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test ?
I will try to write you a short book on whatever topic you want to hear me thinking about… but I will warn you that it could get random. xD

#1-Be Humble Before God

That is a really good question, and one that I have thought about a lot too. The problem is that you can so easily get cought up in believing you are so humble that in reality you are being proud. 0.o Dose that even make sense? But it's true! It's happened to me many times.

I tend to think that the most original kind of humility is the humility brought on by God Himself. Like, every time man tries to humble himself it is just a fake kind of humility… and "Humble yourself before the Lord" is to just let go and submit to the humility. (Just a thought)

#1—Be Humble Before God

What tends to humble me before God most often is when I allow Him, through His Word, to reveal to me the depths of my remaining sin, which helps me to be all the more in awe of Him, that He would choose to love one such as I. To think that God the Son willingly offered Himself to take on my sin when He knew all that I would do in rebellion against Him is astounding to me. Meditation upon that truth humbles me before God.

Another way is to absorb the beauty of creation, the orderliness of God's design, the complexities of providence, and to simultaneously think of what a small part I am in His grand scheme of things… and yet He ministers to me individually. His Spirit indwells me and works in me, even though there are much more willing, honorable parts of His creation He could be bothering with. The wind never resists Him; yet I resist Him and He continues to give me grace.

Those are just a few thoughts. I will post more when I think of them.

To be humble is to have a true understand of your place before God. You understand who He is, you understand who you are in relation to Him, and you act accordingly. It's way easier said than done…it's very easy to go to the extremes of either taking God for granted, or being so fearful of Him because of your sin that you put yourself into a spiral of self-loathing and despair. For me, the best way to be humble is to study the word of God. The more I learn about Him, the more I get to know Him; I learn who He is, and I learn to love Him. And as I love Him, I learn about His attributes, His holy majesty and His hares for sin. And as I learn that, He begins His work of awakening me to my own sin, and all the areas in my life that I need to fix. Except, I can't fix them, not without His help. So I learn to lean on Him, to go to Him with all of my troubles and shortcomings, and to throw myself at His mercy.

It's not easy, nor is it something I remember to do. Or even want to do, in my own pride sometimes. But isn't that what humility is? Laying down your pride, acknowledging your own weakness, and allowing God to work through you.

Sorry for not saying so sooner…

Welcome to the forums, Amy! ;D

Thank you!

@Sarah: I can't remember if I ever drew/painted any of the Bible Bee verses. Association like that is helpful, though. :) Numbers are harder to remember than words (I had a bunch of trouble with all the verse references in BB). Actually, I'm right handed (Bethany is left handed) and I crawled and then walked. XD

I've done those personality test things in the past, and mine is INFJ, for what it's worth. :)

Haha, a short book. XD I'd enjoy hearing you talked about the many different types of people in the world, if you feel inclined. :D Random is totally fine.

#1– Be Humble Before God

Thanks so much for the thoughts on this topic, everyone! Wow, reading your posts has helped deepen my own understanding of humility, and I'm really thankful!

@Sarah: I know what you mean about being proud when we think we have humility. It reminds me of the verse 1 Corinthians 10:12 which says, "Therefore, let anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he falls." I think the idea behind that is to beware of becoming conceited in our opinion of ourselves rather than a continual dependence on God. When we think /we/ have accomplished something, we're very likely to be brought full around to remember that Jesus said, "apart from Me you can do nothing." I don't think this means God wants us to continually doubt or be uncertain as to whether He is bearing fruit in our lives, but we have to be certain to remember it is God who is at work in us and find our strength in that, not ourselves. :)

Great point that humility ultimately comes from God and not our own work! That's really the foundation of the whole thing, and we can always use that reminder!

@Christian: That's so good! I'd say pondering the perfection of God and our own imperfection in comparison is an astounding way to grow in humility. Like, how can we even dare be prideful when we gain a correct view of God and ourselves? Those are super practical thoughts, which is especially what I'm trying to get at here!

@Sam: "But isn't that what humility is? Laying down your pride, acknowledging your own weakness, and allowing God to work through you." This. I really appreciate your whole post, and this stands out to me as a great, succinct understanding of humility. God's word really is key, when we want to get the right mind about anything.

A couple other thoughts that have come to my mind this week…
I've been surprised lately to learn that the action of continual prayer is very humbling. I don't do this nearly as consistently as I should, but have been trying to make it a habit to kneel in prayer numerous times throughout the day, even if only for a short period at a time. The simple action of kneeling has impressed deeply on me in a more personal way that God is King and worthy of explicit worship. He deserves to be treated with reverence and fear, even when we are invited to address Him as our Father. This in itself is humbling.

Also, to continually come to God, and unburden myself of the worries and weights of my life has brought a bigger sense of God's infinite power and unchanging faithfulness. All the things that weigh me down are as nothing to Him. God is grandly bigger than anything else we know on earth, and while we may seek to be strong in ourselves or forget for a time what we owe to Him, He remains above us and is holding everything together and giving life without ever failing for a moment.

So, practically speaking, prayer is a very humbling experience.

One last thought–counting others as more significant than ourselves can make us be more humble. I don't always think other people are more significant that me–oftentimes I might assume we're at least equal, and sometimes my actions reveal that I consider myself as more important. Um, no, I'm not. At all. It's hard to swallow that one at times. But if we're willing to give up ourselves and serve other people, it helps show us that others really are more important. When I realize that other people are more important than me, I really begin to understand how small I am in the world, and that makes me more humble before God.

I think that my personality might have been INFJ, too! :)

@Amy - That's really neat! :) I didn't know Bethany is left handed! Being left handed is so awesome. I walked before I crawled… but aleast I did get my crawling in, so I do enjoy reading after all! LOL
What kind of paint do you use most? Do you have a favorite? I am hoping to get into painting again very soon. :)

Alright. Well, let me think where to start… You know how some people say that opposites attract? I know that this saying is often used in a romantic sense, but I find it extremely interesting to see in even just friendships. I have found it to be true in most places - but not always Memverse Forums. Here it seems that there are some people who attract to their own kind more (I could give you a few examples but I will refrain from using names). :) Okay, so let me tell you that I don't really believe in clicks… um, well - 'clicks' existing but I think it is important to stretch beyond the people who make you feel good and make friends with the 'harder nuts to chrack.' There is value in making friends with people who you don't click with at first.
Anyway… back to the original topic.
I have had many people here take the Jung personality test (and a few other tests) and have been doing in depth studying of each person. ;) lol It is very fascinating to me how well the test matches they person's personality so perfectly. There are some people who don't have a personality type (Abigail, and MCS). I am still trying to ponder out why that is. They have taken the test more than once and gotten a variety of outcomes that don't seem to fit them exactly. I thought perhaps it might be the conflict of an online personality and the real life personality… but in some ways that doesn't make sense.
Can you guess what my personality is from what you know if me? :)
So, what makes a person's personality? And do personal change through out a persons life? This is hard fo me to say because I strongly feel that there are some things that have strongly affected my life to the point of changing my perspectives, and the way I react to certin things; however, at the same time I have always been who I am and somethings that I often wish would change just don't. So can a person change their personality? Actors do it. But actors are acting a part and not showing their real self. I wonder if I had tken the personality test when I was 5 if the results would be the same as they are. The Bible says that, "endurance produces character, and character produces hope," (Romans 5:4) Ooh! But hold up! 'Character' and 'personality' are NOT the same thing! Personality is easy to judge, but character is harder and takes longer to determine. And sometimes I find it hard to judge the difference between the two.
But then we are told to have character of Christ, not the personality of Christ… right? 0.o Oh boy! That's a thought I will need to study more. I wish I could ask Jesus to take a personality test. ;P lol

takes a deep breath I will resume on that thought later. What thinkest thou? Feel free to add to or correct my thoughts.

Edit- Sorry if you catch a lot of mistakes in spelling… I blame my tablet.

Amy wanted me to let you all know that she's not going to be on MV this week.

(Thanks for letting them know, Bethany.)

Hey Sarah :) I enjoyed reading your thoughts!
Haha, nice. Got your crawling in and like to read. XD You'll have to tell me about some of your favorite books sometime (if you feel so inclined…if not, that's fine too).

I thought it was interesting that you brought up the idea of opposites attracting. Personally, I've found that my closest and best friends are very similar in personality to my own. I won't get into all the reasons why I'm mostly "attracted" to personalities similar to my own…I think, though, rather than being a rule of thumb, it more depends on personalities, life experiences and that sort of thing. Totally agree with what you said about the need to branch out and develop relationships with people who are different than we may naturally connect with. One awesome things about people is, no matter what the personality type, everyone is unique and holds a different perspective on life. Being friends with both people who are similar to ourselves and vastly different is a very cool way to expand our way of thinking and of course, hopefully help one another grow as people.

Hmmm, I'm going to forego guessing your personality type, because honestly I'm not familiar enough with the differences in the types to even give an educated guess. :)

Wow, you got on a big topic with personality and character. :D I must say it's all kind of muddled in my brain about how to sort through that. If I look back on my life, I'm pretty certain my personality hasn't ultimately changed, but in many ways I've been working to overcome the limitations/weaknesses of my personality and so I am a lot different than I used to be. Those changes have been influenced both by somewhat simply a desire to change and mostly life experiences that have made me change. Does that make sense? Even as a child I was a total introvert and cripplingly shy. I'm still extremely introverted, but I've learned to get past the shyness, to the point that people have told me they don't even think I'm very introverted. It's confusing, that's for sure. :) If you have more thoughts about personality/character please do share them!

That's a very unique thought about having the character of Christ rather than the personality. I'll ponder that more and let you know if I have any thoughts about it. :) Let me know if you do, too.

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. This is most fun. :D

I remember seeing this name on here before, but never talked to you until this past week. :P Hey Amy! Great intro ;p thanks for the fun of playing ping pong, bouncy houses, and talking! Hope you'll come back to MV sometime. :)

Haha, yes, I've been around. Thank you! It was fun doing stuff at Nationals. Hopefully next year they'll have a few more ping pong tables available, too! ;)

Is there a website with information about the up coming Scriptorium?

www.Scriptoriums.com :)

That site is home to official Scriptorium information. If you're looking for info for the Ohio Scriptorium, we haven't gotten that finalized yet, so that will be forthcoming, but the KC information is up. Hope that helps. :)

Thank you l

Sneaking around MV, huh? =P jk! Haha, yeah, they need more than one table for 360 contestants being there. xP