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NIKI FLORICA

The Quiet Quill

Books, Blessings, & Quiet Contemplations

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Keep Your Head Up

Dec 28, 2021
2 min

Keep Your Head Up

I think it would alarm me if I actually knew how much time I spend with my head down, watching the road ahead of me. On walks, I barely see the sky. The trees are shadows in my periphery. If birds are singing, I don't hear them through the whirlwind of thoughts in my head. The benefit of keeping your head down is focus. Your eyes are on the road ahead—on the prize, if you would, on where you want to go. You're watching your feet—choosing the best steps forward, avoiding any p

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Thankful-Coloured Glasses

Oct 18, 2021
3 min

Thankful-Coloured Glasses

Christianity asks us to do a really hard thing when it comes to how we feel about ourselves. On one hand, we need to be brutally honest. The key to, well, everything is looking at ourselves with truth-coloured glasses and acknowledging all the brokenness that comprises us, which we alone can do nothing about. That key unlocks Jesus, because only when we truly acknowledge what we are can we give ourselves fully to him, ask for his help to make us something different. After tha

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A Tidbit for the Trodden Down

Sep 21, 2021
2 min

A Tidbit for the Trodden Down

trodden: walked on . . . crush[ed] or flatten[ed] with the feet . . . pressed down into the ground. (Google) Who's feeling pressed down today? How about crushed? Flattened? Walked all over? Is your hand up? Hey, no shame. Mine is, too. Satan has been hard at work in me this week, stirring up struggles I just want to be done with but can't seem to shake, especially when I'm too tired to fight back. Relating? Jesus talks about the downtrodden in the parable of the sower, Luke 8

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Be Filled.

Sep 8, 2021
2 min

Be Filled.

Want to hear a secret? Just kidding—it's not really a secret. I'm a smidge of a pessimist. Just kidding—it's more than a smidge. I think it stems from my fear of being caught unprepared for an emotional blow; I hate having hopes dashed or high expectations crushed. I hate being let down, so my subconscious coping mechanism is to lower my expectations on all fronts so I can't be disappointed. The problem? It also makes it much, much harder to get excited. School starts tomorro

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Will We or Will We Not

Jun 22, 2021
3 min

Will We or Will We Not

When you stop to count them, a TON of spiritual traits boil down to good ol' fashioned acts of will. Prayerfulness. Forgiveness. Thankfulness. Selflessness. Love. Even faith. We love to think of being inherently forgiving or prayerful or full of faith as if it just happens when we've been believers long enough. We look at those around us who excel in certain areas and say, "Well, So-and-So is just naturally forgiving. It's easy for her, much harder for me." We might even let

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A Sliver of Perspective

May 18, 2021
2 min

A Sliver of Perspective

Perspective is a gift. God knew we couldn't handle the full, grandiose scope of everything He's doing in our lives, so he gave us limited sight. A piece of the puzzle—our small, incomplete, but seemingly all-consuming perspectives of life. They're a gift in that we are not crushed by the overwhelming weight of the big picture, but Satan can use that gift and twist it to his advantage as well. C.S. Lewis' Screwtape talks about time as a spiritual thing. The present is where ti

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The Worker's Prayer

May 3, 2021
2 min

The Worker's Prayer

I recently saw a post that said something along the lines of, "Be the best at whatever you do," and it struck me as slightly far-fetched. How can we all be the best at our jobs? Wouldn't it be more realistic to strive for hard-working, dependable, competent? Maybe. But it reminds me of our objective as followers of Christ, who very specifically instructs us to "be perfect" as God is perfect. Rest assured, Christ knows this goal is eons beyond our reach. We are innately flawed

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Under the Fig Tree

Apr 14, 2021
2 min

Under the Fig Tree

"This was done for you." Season 2, Episode 2, The Chosen. Nathaniel sits under a fig tree with a stack of failed dreams in his hands—plans for a synagogue he'll never get to build (to know why, watch the show. Seriously). He turns his gaze to the radiant sky and directs a broken-hearted prayer to heaven. But even as he recites words of faith, the tears streaking his face as he burns the designs say what he's truly thinking, what he's feeling. "This was done for you. . . . Do

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Happy Resurrection! What Now?

Apr 5, 2021
2 min

Happy Resurrection! What Now?

I shy away from blogging on Easter weekends—probably because the greatest point in history needs no commentary from a first-year geek at her Macbook. It speaks powerfully enough without my help. It's Monday. Easter has come and gone, and it's amazing how neatly we tuck the climax of history—Jesus' death and resurrection, HALLELUJAH!—into one weekend. We've spent a few days appreciating it; now it's back to work. Life goes on, doesn't it? It does, but that doesn't mean that th

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Lifeboats and Tigers and Fears, Oh My!

Mar 15, 2021
3 min

Lifeboats and Tigers and Fears, Oh My!

“I must say a word about fear. It is life's only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life. It is a clever, treacherous adversary ... It goes for your weakest spot, which it finds with unnerving ease. It begins in your mind, always ... so you must fight hard to express it. You must fight hard to shine the light of words upon it. Because if you don't ... you open yourself to further attacks of fear because you never truly fought the opponent who defeated you.” Why did I choose

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I Need You to Carry On

Mar 10, 2021
2 min

I Need You to Carry On

I'm trying to start a new habit. I love going for walks down my country road when my head feels crowded with the things of this big ol' world we're just passing through. Sometimes I pray while I walk, but sometimes, especially lately, I listen to worship music. And though part of me itches against the idea that I need tunes to go for a walk—(FYI, I don't always)—most of me is thrilled about a new discovery I've made. The discovery that worship can happen anywhere, anytime, to

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Life Lessons from a Rubber Band

Mar 2, 2021
2 min

Life Lessons from a Rubber Band

Life threw me for a loop this week, y'all. One minute I'm rolling along, feeling reasonably in-control of my routine, and the next I'm buying a car, job-hunting, preparing for my driver's test, and frantically trying to ready my latest manuscript for this year's #PitMad event—just to name a few of the surprises that, of course, had to fall within the same seven days out of 365. Naturally. At various points in this week, I felt absolutely out of control. Even now, I'm not too

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Writer Probs: Doing the Next Right Thing

Feb 16, 2021
3 min

Writer Probs: Doing the Next Right Thing

One thing I've been awful at since day one—discerning God's will when I don't know how to move forward. Especially in the publishing world, there are so many avenues an aspiring author can take, each with its own pros and cons. There are gazillions of advice websites, how-to-publish books, and social media accounts to get totally lost in. There are horrible, horrible odds of success when it comes to traditional publishing, specifically. And there are stakes, too—high ones, in

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Jesus Laughed.

Feb 10, 2021
2 min

Jesus Laughed.

I can happily say that my new favourite show is officially The Chosen—not only marked by quality acting, sweet costumes, killer screenwriting, and loveable characters, but also featuring Jesus. Yeah, that's right. Jesus. Need I say more? As far as cinematic Jesus depictions go, The Chosen paints my favourite picture. Unlike in the original Ben-Hur film, he is not a faceless figure who floats through scenes on strings of otherworldly music. And, unlike in the film version of T

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Troy, Gabriella, and the Terrifying Future

Feb 1, 2021
3 min

Troy, Gabriella, and the Terrifying Future

Anyone who's watched High School Musical or the Teen Beach Movie or any such Disneylicious teen drama know that at some point or another, the heroes and heroines always get hung up on the idea of the future. I never got it before. I mean, I've seen High School Musical a bajillion times and for years, Troy and Gabriella's anxiety about the future never resonated with me like it does now. Because now, I find myself where they are—older, actually, which is too terrifying to even

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It's Not All Your Brain's Fault

Jan 18, 2021
3 min

It's Not All Your Brain's Fault

I don't abide by everything in my psychology course, but here's a fun fact (at least as I understand it): between ages 15 and 25, the limbic system of the human brain is maturing more rapidly than surrounding sections. The result? Until roughly age 25, we tend to be ruled by our emotions. I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty sure Mr. Psychologist is talking about me. What rules you? Is it your goals? Your logic? Your morals? Your personality? Or is it your emotions? Th

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Here's What I've Learned About Expectations

Dec 30, 2020
3 min

Here's What I've Learned About Expectations

I think it's fairly safe to say that we've all had expectations drenched in a cold wave of reality. Human beings are creative. We're blessed with vast imaginations that allow us to envision our dreams in vivid ways, but unfortunately, those dreams and expectations are a bit like chalk on a driveway—pretty to look at on a sunny summer day, but quick to melt into streaky asphalt as soon as it starts to rain. It's a miserable feeling. Watching something we imagined, anticipated,

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For the Introvert: Better than One

Oct 21, 2020
3 min

For the Introvert: Better than One

I used to be a social butterfly. I know—GASP. There was a time when I would get together with friends at least once a week, back when we could spend hours in far-off fantasy worlds together without coming up for air. Now, I go to my fantasy worlds alone. In fact, I do a lot of things alone. If you had asked me to predict what kind of person I'd become at 18 years old, I don't think I ever would have predicted introversion to the degree I now know it. I mean, I can go for mont

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"Going Nowhere" & the Real Adventure

Sep 14, 2020
3 min

"Going Nowhere" & the Real Adventure

While sifting through blog ideas this morning, I came across one line in my daily devotion and knew I had found my Monday Musing. "Although you may feel as if you are going nowhere in this world, your spiritual journey is another matter altogether, taking you along steep, treacherous paths of adventure." ~Sarah Young, Jesus Calling Interestingly enough, my thoughts were running along these lines at church yesterday, comparing my spiritual journey to my efforts as a writer, an

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Time Keeps on Slippin'

Sep 10, 2020
2 min

Time Keeps on Slippin'

I feel like I've spent way too much of my life watching the clock. Despite my early enthusiasm for it, I realized quickly as a six-year-old that school was not my favourite place to be, and as soon as I learned to tell time, I imagine I spent a lot of classes doing just that. Watching that minute hand tick slowly, slowly toward the next period, the next bell, the next end of the day. It's a nasty habit that's followed me through all of elementary and high school, and now with

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