Blessed



My family is so blessed to have so many people that are commited and praying for us. I am thankful to have so many friends near and far. Sometimes I forget how many friends that are building with and are commited to me and my family. I guess what I want to say is, "Thank you Jesus for blessing me and my family with faithful friends, your word and the forgiveness of sins."

"Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies."

Thank you!

Define a Friend

First of all, thank you Kaylee, Letha, and Molly for your comments on my last post. It was very encouraging to read all of your comments. I really appreciate it. Now back to my blog post :).

What is a friend?

Recently, I have been getting help on defining what a friend is. I asked my dad the other night, "What if they don't want to be my friend anymore?" My dad responded by saying, "You can't loose a friend that you never had. But, take comfort to know that their fathers are your friends. They are the kind of friends that you want to have in your life." The more my dad tells me this (which has been a lot lately) the more it is comforting. Speaking of fathers, I believe that Pastor Taylor, Pastor Hicks, Pastor O'Connor, Ben Taylor, my dad (to name a few) are my friends. I know I can go to them when I can't handle something. I believe that everyone has the opportunity to do this if they want.

The video below is a song about charity. My brothers and sisters wrote it with help from my dad and their teacher Mrs. Scamman. For some reason, I thought of this song when I was posting on my blog.

Why?

Why does God let people sin? Why does He allow people to feel pain? Why does God reveal things to people when they don't want to know or see what He wants revealed? Why me? Why did God choose me to __fill in the blank___?


I have been asking myself, my dad, and my pastor these questions recently. My dad said "I don't know, but one thing I do know is that God allows people to suffer so that they can be brought to Him and be reconciled." Do I like suffering? No. But I do believe, by God's grace, He is working things for good and not evil. Believe me, it definitely takes faith to believe that everything you go through is part of the Lord's plan. You might not know what His plan is right now, but it is all working out for good. My pastor told me, "What we call evil, God calls good. Why are you worrying? God uses people to bring things out of darkness into the light." Again, it takes faith to believe this too! My mom said, "God's Word doesn't turn void. He is faithful to those who seek Him and do accordingly to His commandments."All I can say to this is AMEN.

"Let each day begin with prayer,

Praise, and adoration.

On the Lord cast ev'ry care,

He is your salvation.

Morning, evening, and at night

Jesus will be near you.

Save you from the tempters might,

With His presence cheer you."

(Lutheran Book of Prayer)

(I have no idea if this post made any sense, but I really wanted to share some of the things I have been hearing and receiving these last couple of days).

Receiving and Giving

"I have this to give to you only because I have, by grace, received from men that have spoken a living Word to me, MAINLY the forgiveness of sins." (Dad)

During the "holiday season" people say its the season for "giving."  My dad was making a point that our whole life is about receiving and giving, not just the giving part. He was reminding us all on Christmas Day that if there is no forgiveness of sins there will be no receiving or giving because we are cut off from the people we are with every day, weather it's your mom, dad, brother, sister, friend, ect. Then there is no flow between relationships. Life is cut off. You can keep it that way if you want or you can quickly repent, receive forgivess, and be put back into your vocation of giving! This is the life cycle of the believer.

(Just wanted to share what my dad has been telling us Feliciano children)

Baking Time

Every year, around Christmas time, my mom, sisters, friends, and I make cookies for our dads and brothers customers. Everyone is assigned a type of cookie to make so that there can be eight cookies inside of each cookie tin. This year we had 94 cookie tins to fill! So there were a ton of cookies. My sister Mahea & friend Bou'Nelle make Lemon Bars (which are my personal favorite out of all the cookies we make). My mom, sisters Taylor & Grace, and our friend Debbie make Melting Moments. My friends Faith & Naomi make Magic Bars (coconut & chocolate). My sister Olivia makes Rice Crispy Treats. Finally, my friend Sarah & I make Chocolate Chip Cookies. Once all the cookies are made, we meet down at our church to pack them all into the tins. It's always fun to get together with friends, especially if you don't see them all everyday :).

 Together, Sarah and I were supposed to make 720 chocolate chip cookies. I accidentally made one batch extra. My total came out to 510 cookies! It's ok I went over because my brothers ate those ones ;). Anyways, here are two pictures of my cookies.

My cookies almost filled up our kitchen table!

Me & my cookies :)

Happy Birthday Bonnie :)

Happy 18th Birthday Bonnie Waters! I am thankful that we are friends, even though we are 120 miles apart. (I went on google to see how far it is from my house to Olympia and that's how much it said on Google maps ha, ha, ha)! I know that this is only possible because of the Word that we both are hearing everyday from our dads, moms, pastors, and friends. This is something I am thankful for. Without this, I know I wouldn't be friends with Bonnie or any of my friends.

All the times that I have been around Bonnie, not only is she friendly, easy going, bright, bubbly, and fun to talk to, but she brings the conversation back to the Word, which is something I like about her.

Anyways, I have a wonderful birthday and I hope to see you soon!

"Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend." Proverbs 27:17

Where would I be without friends?

Where would I be without friends? This question popped into my head this morning during a meeting with my pastor, dad, and others. Well, I would have to say that without faithful friends who daily bring me to see my sin, I would be down a very lonely road separated from those who really love me and are for me. If there is no mutual conversation between me and my dad, pastor, or whoever it might be I end up being separated, have no life to give, and can't receive from anyone. I am starting to see, by God's grace, that I can't handle my life. I need washed everyday and need my thoughts cleaned.

To end, I'd like to say that I am very thankful for my pastor. He has daily brought me and my family the Word in times of need. I know that he is committed to the Word of God and also receives help from many other men/pastors. This is something I am very grateful for.