First of all, I want to thank you for you overwhelmingly positive response to the blog. When I started this blog in August, I was pretty sure no one would read it, except maybe a few of my friends.
Well, God had other plans! Just a week after I put up the first lesson, I had already received about 100 emails from readers across the country! Now, on average, I receive between 100 and 300 emails per week from readers! I wish I had words to express how touched I am by all the people who write in to tell me how the blog has affected them, to share their witness of Christ, to ask me to pray for them, or just to say hello. I do my best to reply to every email I get, although sometimes it takes me a day or two.
I am so incredibly happy that my personal ministry through this blog has reached so many people!
A lot of emails I've received have contained questions, both theological questions and general questions about me or the blog. I do my best to answer all theological/scriptural questions, either in the blog or individually by email.
As for the personal questions, I want to share a few with you that seem to be the most frequently asked, and answer them for you:
Q: Where are you from?
A: I grew up in South Carolina, and that's where I live now. Over the course of my life, I've lived in a total of four states.
Q: How old are you?
A: I was born in the flesh on 05 October 1991, and I was born again in the Spirit on 03 March 2010.
Q: Are you male or female?
A: Female.
Q: What denomination do you profess, if any?
A: I'm a little leery about answering this one. Partially because I don't want to alienate readers, but the main reason is because this blog isn't based on just one denomination. Yes, I do attend one particular church, and I identify myself as one particular type of Christian, but my beliefs are not totally defined by that one denomination's beliefs. Because religion was not important in my upbringing, I had to discover my beliefs on my own, largely through trial and error. I have studied many, many different religions and faiths- Christian and otherwise- and I have realized that it matters very little what "religion" you profess. It only matters what kind of relationship with our Savior you have. So what I will tell you about my faith is this: I know the Lord, and I love Him, and He is a part of my life every day. I have been redeemed by His blood, and I live my life for Him. Everything else is secondary. If you truly, deeply have a burning urge to know what exact denomination I profess, you can email me and I'll tell you. But it's really not important.
Q: Who did the art for the new layout?
A: I did!
Q: How did you choose your pseudonym and blog title "Bright Yellow Raincloud"?
A: Everyone asks me this question. And the truth is, I don't really have much of an answer for it. The name just kind of popped into my head one day, and I liked it. When I started my blog, I needed a name, and that's what I used. I suppose it could be a reference to Hebrews 12:1, a scripture I've always liked, which begins, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses..." But that wasn't what I originally had in mind; it just happened to work out that way.
Q: How old were you when you were saved? How did it happen?
A: I invited my Lord and Savior into my heart when I was eighteen years old. I was talking to my friend Edie one night after choir practice, and we started talking about salvation. I wasn't really sure exactly what being personally "saved" meant, or how one went about becoming saved, so I asked her to explain. As she was talking about it, I felt something I can't really describe, like my whole body was filling up with light from the inside out. She asked me if I wanted to pray to receive Christ, and I said yes, so she found a place for us to sit down. She held my hands and helped me say the prayer, line by line, by repeating after her. Afterwards, I knew I had just done the best thing I would ever do in my life. I will always celebrate my "rebirthday" on 03 March to commemorate that night.
Q: Do you have a lifeverse? If so, what is it, and what special meaning does it hold for you?
A: Yes, I do! I found it as I was reading through the scriptures, just an hour or two after I prayed to receive Christ. It is II Corinthians 4:8-9, which reads:
"For I am hard pressed on every side, but I am not crushed;
I am perplexed, but I am not in despair;
I am persecuted, but I am not abandoned;
I am struck down, but I am not destroyed."
This scripture is special to me because my life has never been without trials. But I know that Christ has given me the authority to overcome the challenges and struggles of this world, and to never be destroyed by anything I have to face, no matter how unbearable it seems at the time. I can be stressed like crazy, stretched to my limits, shaken to my core; but nothing in this life can ever tear me apart from the love of Christ, and nothing will ever crush my soul to a point where I can't get through it with His help.
Wow, I was worried that you all would be upset by the lack of spiritual lesson today, but this turned out to be a pretty deep Q&A session! Thank you again, dear readers, for your loyalty to this blog. I cannot begin to tell you how much it means to hear from you. May you walk with Christ's light in your heart, today and always. God bless.
~BYR
