Bloom!

Bloom! issues online This month we are excited to announce that all of Bloom! 's past magazine issues are now available online !  As you may know, Bloom! was formerly a print magazine for two years before going into a webzine format.  Many of you have written us, requesting an online version of our old issues and we are glad to now have the magazine accessible via the internet.  We pray that they will be a refreshing read and spur you on in your walk with Jesus! Celebrating because of Jesus, Joanna, Megan, Krista, Emily & Victoria

Where am I at? I'm a 2012 homeschool graduate who is still at home. To the world that may look like I'm lazy or perhaps I can't get into college with my scores.  Actually, neither of those are true - I am at home because this is where I feel God wants me at this time. I don't feel called to go to college right now. This thought scares modern culture. Why? Because it's different. It's not what is expected. I am reminded often by the world and those in it, how "dangerous" it is to not go to college right after graduation. "If you don't go now you never will!" I may not, but that might not be God's plan for my life - if it is, He'll tell me. He just hasn't yet. I also hear, "You'll never get married if you just sit at home."  I trust my Heavenly Father with that too. “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord , whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends...

Today we thought it would be fun to share some of our favorite autumn related links: 1| Thoughts on Thanksgiving by Megan 2| Pumpkin Gingerbread recipe 3| Check out the GirlTalker's Thanksgiving post from last year 4| Our Thanksgiving Heritage by Bethany Beasley 5| A quote on thankfulness by Charles Spurgeon 6| Banana-Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe 7| A Box and Five Kernels of Corn by Jessina

  I have a confession: Coming into college four years ago, I thought I knew an awful lot about dating and relationships and how to do it exactly right. I had read Christian relationship books to the extent that it was almost a hobby – I was determined to know what to do and how to do it right and not ever be hurt, and I maybe had a formula for the way I expected things to work out. And then God smashed my formula. I realized that there were some ideas I picked up from those well-meaning books and articles that were just unhelpful and needed to be unlearned. Please don’t get me wrong here: I did find wisdom from those authors, and am so grateful for what I learned. And I don’t even know if they said these ideas outright, or whether I just latched onto a phrase, interpreted it wrong, and clung to it as a lifesaver. But now that I’ve been dating for over a year, and have a fair bit of experience with relationships-that-didn’t-go-anywhere, I thought it would be f...

These past few weeks have been really busy, with school, online business, work, family and church ministry just piling on top of each other. I am currently a preschool teacher three days a week and a full-time student the rest of the time. I teach four and five-year old students and lately our center has been a hubbub of learning and fun chaos. Most of my free time is delegated on church and ministry, family and an online business I am trying to get started to have some extra cash on the side. Needless to say, it has been a really adventurous few weeks. Monday was my all time low so far, spilling my coffee on the roof of my car (don’t ask) and barely getting to eat half a banana on the way to work. It was a brutal day and it ended with me being very frustrated and feeling very impatient, impatient enough to even mutter at my car! As you can see, it was a low moment and not one of my proud ones. I am, in some ways, a very detail-oriented perfectionist. My days run by a strict...

This morning a man at the mall stopped in his tracks and stared at me in astonishment when I told him that I don’t have a boyfriend. I told him I was waiting on God’s perfect timing in bringing the right man into my life. “Honey, there ain ’t no perfect guy out there. And you’re gonna have to wait a long time for any guy if you don’t got a boyfriend now.” “I know that there’s no perfect man out there, but there is a perfect God. And He has perfect plans for me. I’ll trust Him.” “You shouldn ’t wait on Him. You need to get out there and find yourself a guy. Otherwise you’ll be waiting a long, long time.” He pronounced those last three words ominously, like a bad nightmare or a lifelong prison sentence was happening. “No, I don’t need to get out there and find some guy. God will do that for me.” I simply said. The man just shook his head and went away mumbling about how naive I was and how I had to find a guy real soon, because one couldn ’t rely on God. I stared int...