"Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in justice. Each will be like a hiding place from the wind, a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land." -- Isaiah 32:1-2

"We do learn through pain...Without [pain] we do not grow. We have to be braver than we think we can be, because God is constantly calling us to be more than we are" -- Walking on Water by Madeleine L'Engle

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

I heard the bells on Christmas Day/Their old familiar carols play/And wild and sweet the words repeat/Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

I thought how, as the day had come/The belfries of all Christendom/Had rolled along the unbroken song/Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head/"There is no peace on earth," I said,/"For hate is strong and mocks the song/Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:/"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;/The wrong shall fail, the right prevail/With peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Till, ringing, singing on its way/The world revolved from night to day/A voice, a chime, a chant sublime/Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

"There are no 'ifs' in God's world. And no places that are safer than other places. The center of His will is our only safety" -- The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

Hello, reader! My name is Rosa Cotton. (In case you're wondering, Rosa is a nickname a friend gave me years ago, and I added Cotton for my favorite hobbit lass, Rosie Cotton.)

Who am I? I am a girl seeking God's will for my life, blessed (or cursed, depending how you look at it) with a very active imagination and gigantic love for books. Almost any given day I get inspiration for different fanfics but struggle putting them down in words. I can take no credit for the stories I've written. God has given me this ability, and I pray Him will be glorified and honored through my writing.

"God knows all about the boats" -- A Chance to Die by Elisabeth Elliot (applicable to anything that troubles us)

FAVORITE AUTHORS: Katherine Applegate, Jane Austen, J.M. Barrie, Stephanie Barron, G.K. Chesterson, Agatha Christie, Wilkie Collins, Kate DiCamillo, Charles Dickens, Melanie Dickerson, Daphne du Maurier, Elisabeth Elliot, Margarita Engle, Elizabeth Gaskell, Sarah Gibb, Patricia Reilly Giff, Nikki Grimes, Shannon Hale, Georgette Heyer, B.J. Hoff, Lois Walfrid Johnson, Dick King-Smith, Gaston Leroux, Gail Carson Levine, C.S. Lewis, Grace Lin, E.C.R. Lorac, George MacDonald, Patricia MacLachlan, Albert Marrin, Michael Medved, L.M. Montgomery, Walter Dean Myers, E. Nesbit, Charles Perrault, Jerry Pinkney, Sarah Price; Gayle Roper, Cynthia Rylant, Ruth Sanderson, Ntozake Shange, Margery Sharp, Dodie Smith, J.R.R. Tolkien, Debbie Tung, Jane Yolen

"God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees, and flowers, and clouds, and stars" -- Martin Luther

FAVORITE BOOKS: Agnes Grey; Amiri & Odette; Believe It (Foles); The Bible; Bleak House; Book Love (Tung); The Cheshire Cheese; The Chronicles of Narnia; The Circular Staircase; Cold Comfort Farm; Ella Enchanted; Flipped; For Such a Time (Breslin); Free Among Ourselves (Bishop); Goose Chase; The Grand Sophy; Green Dolphin Street; The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society; The Heavens Before; Hidden Magic (Velde); Home Sweet Homicide; Jane Austen Society; Jane and the Man of the Cloth; Keep a Quiet Heart; Life Among the Savages; Little Dorrit; The Magnolia Story; Mansfield Park; Melisande; Miss Bianca; The Moonstone; Mount Hope; Murder and Matchmaking; An Old-Fashioned Girl; Pearl in the Sand; Persuasion; Peter Pan; Peter and the Sword of Mercy; The Prince and the Princess (Mayer); The Princess and the Goblin; The Quest for Love (Elliot); The Runaway Princess; Sanditon (Austen and Another Lady); The Satanic Mill/Krabat; A School for Brides; Snow White (Phelan), The Suspicion at Sanditon; This is What a Librarian Looks Like; Till We Have Faces; Villette; The Watsons (Austen); While the World Watched; Wives and Daughters; A Wrinkle in Time

"Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength" -- Corrie Ten Boom

FAVORITE MOVIES: The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938); Aladdin (Disney); The Avengers; Black Panther; The Book Thief; Cannon Movie Tales: Beauty and the Beast; Cannon Movie Tales: Sleeping Beauty; Cannon Movie Tales: Snow White; Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; Cinderella (1997 & 2015); Donkey Skin; DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp; Finding Dory; Finding Nemo; The Great Muppet Caper; Honey, I Shrunk the Kids; The Incredibles 1 & 2; Inside Out; The Jungle Book (2016); Krabat (1977); Little Dorrit (2009 BBC); The Little Mermaid (Disney); Lord of the Rings; The Magic Riddle; Mansfield Park (1983 BBC); Monsters, Inc.; A Muppet Christmas Carol; The Muppet Movie; Muppet Treasure Island; Peter Pan (2003); The Rescuers Down Under; Sense & Sensibility (1995); Singin' in the Rain; The Slipper and the Rose; That Darn Cat! (1965); Toy Story; UP!; Wall-E; Wives and Daughters

"Every man's life is a fairy tale, written by God's fingers" -- Hans Christian Anderden

FAVORITE PAIRINGS: Aragorn/Eowyn; Arthur Clennam/Amy Dorrit; Bard/Tauriel; Bofur/Fem!Bilbo; Boromir/Eowyn; Calvin/Meg; Captain America/Black Widow; Charles Bingley/Jane Bennet; Curdie/Irene; Dawsey Adams/Juliet Ashtons; Digory/Polly; Dwalin/Fem!Bilbo; Edmund Bertram/Fanny Price; Eric/Ariel; Eustace/Jill; Finn/Rey; Frank Hardy/Nancy Drew; Gleb/Anastasia; Henry Tilney/Catherine Morland; Mr. Howard/Emma Watson; Hulk/Black Widow; Ivanhoe/Rebecca; James Stringer/Charlotte Heywood; Kili/Fem!Bilbo; Lasalle/Percy; Laurie/Jo; Legolas/Arwen; Mr. Martin/Harriet Smith; Peter Pan/Wendy; Peter Parker/Shuri; Raoul/Christine; Rudy/Liesel; Samwise/Rosie; Sidney Parker/Charlotte Heywood; Torres/Bishop; Mr. Woodcourt/Esther Summerson

"O Lord God, be my Rock, my strength, my shield. I am weak but You are strong. For that I praise You. Amen."

FAVORITE SONGS: Aeon; Arabian Nights; Beyond My Wildest Dreams; Carol of the Bells; Carousel Waltz; Chanson du Prince (“Peau d'Ane”); Climb Ev’ry Mountain; Crystallized Beauty; Danse mon Esmeralda; Days in the Sun; Do-Re-Mi; Erev Shel Shoshanim; Eternity (Dreams Come True); Everytime We Touch; Fall Again (Glenn Lewis); Flying (“Peter Pan”); For the First Time in Forever (Reprise); God Help the Outcasts; Gold (Linda Eder); Grown Up Christmas List; Hedwig’s Theme; Her Voice; Heroes & Thieves; Home ("The Wiz"); I Dreamed a Dream; I’ll Make a Man Out of You; I’ve Seen Hell (“North & South”); The Inspector Theme (Henry Mancini); Let Me Be Your Wings; Light the Fire Within (LeAnn Rimes); Loneliness of Evening; Luck Be a Lady; Made of Stone; Malaguena; My Immortal; Ol’ Man River; Once Upon a December; Part of Your World (& Reprise); Pink Panther Theme; The Plagues; Portals (Avengers: Endgame); Prince Ali; Professional Pirates; Proud of Your Boy; Reflection; Requiem for a Dream; The Ring Goes South; Rocket to the Moon (& Reprise); Rudy Theme; The Safest Place (LeAnn Rimes); Sleep (Whitacre), Slipper & the Rose Waltz; Slumber (“Sleeping Beauty”); Soliloquy (“Carousel”); Somewhere (There's a Place for Us); Speechless (“Aladdin”); A Step Too Far; Strike Up Pipers; The Sweetest Sounds; Ten Minutes Ago; Then You Look at Me (Celine Dion); A Thousand Miles; Titans Spirit ("Remember the Titans"); The Trolley Song; Under the Sea; We’ll Be One (Nikki Webster); Weep You No More Sad Fountains (Patrick Doyle); What a Comforting Thing to Know; When Will My Life Begin (Reprise); When There Was Me and You; Where Shall I Fly? (“Hercules”); Who is She (Patrick Doyle); Why Can’t I Be Two People?; The Wide Open World (“The Princess & the Pea”); Zero to Hero

"There is little need that I should tell you of God, for every thing speaks of Him. Every field is like an open book; every painted flower hath a lesson written on its leaves. Every murmuring brook hath a tongue; a voice is in every whispering wind. They all speak of Him who made them; they all tell us, He is very good. We cannot see God, for He is invisible; but we can see His works, and worship His footsteps in the green sod" -- Anna Laetitia Barbauld

FAVORITE CHRISTIAN SONGS: All the Earth (Parachute Band); Amazing (Point of Grace); Amen (I Am They); Ancient Words; And Can It Be That I Should Gain; Beautiful Savior; Behold (Plumb); Behold Him (Francesca Battistelli); Blessings (Laura Story); Blue Skies (Point of Grace); Consider the Stars; Cornerstone; East to West; Every Whisper Every Sigh (Annie Moses Band); Emmanuel (Michael W. Smith); Every Moment (Joy Williams); Expressions of Your Love; Fairest Lord Jesus; Faith, Hope & Love (Point of Grace); From the Squalor of a Borrowed Stable (Immanuel); God is With Us (Casting Crowns); Gratitude (Nicole Nordeman); The Great Divide; He Will Hold Me Fast; He’s God (Edwin Hawkins); He’s My Son; His Mercy is More; I Can’t Do This (Plumb); I Come By the Blood; I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day; I Run (Forty Days); I Still Believe (Jeremy Camp); I Will Be Kind; I Will Bring You Home; I Will Glory in My Redeemer; I Wonder (Joy Williams); Immanuel (Michael Card); In Christ Alone (Brian Littrell); In Christ Alone (My Hope is Found); In the Name of the Lord; Is He Worthy?; Jesus Will Still Be There; The Joy of the Lord; Know You (All I Once Held Dear); Lead Me On (Amy Grant); Like a River Glorious; The Love of the Lord Endures; Mighty to Save; My Glorious (Delirious?); My Tribute (To God Be the Glory); New (Forty Days); No Eye Has Seen (Michael W. Smith); O God, Our Help in Ages Past; Open Our Eyes; The Power of the Cross; Rejoice, the Lord is King; Rock of Ages (James Ward); Speechless (Steven Curtis Chapman); Total Praise; Voice of Truth; Walk on the Water; We are the Reason; We Turn Our Eyes (You Speak to My Fear); Well Done My Child; When the Wind Blows; Who am I (Casting Crowns); Whom Shall I Fear?; The Wonder of It All (Point of Grace); Wonderful, Merciful Savior; Yet I Will Praise; You Found Me (FFH); You are Mine (David Haas); You Said; Your Grace Still Amazes Me

"Do not be anxious then, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'With what shall we clothe ourselves?' For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself." -- Matthew 6:31-34