Lessons in Togetherness

 

It has been almost 2 years since my last post.

2.years.

The result of a season of processing and change. Trying to determine what was next.

I spent the time reading much, doing the usual homemaking day-to-days, traveling and simply investing in family - together.

I have always felt isolated in life - different - whether by faith or interests or sheer independence. But the past 2 years have bread a togetherness in our family and a peace in our souls I just can't put into words.

It has been beautiful.

It has been timely.

It hasn't been without bumps and bruises... but the rough patches have served to make us stronger and dig deeper together.

Now, 2022 has been the capstone in this process, bringing equal measures of challenge and celebration. The excitement of traveling together to old and new places has been intermingled with health diagnosis after health diagnosis, some confirming years of struggle.... others completely unexpected and nearly devastating. I have had to learn a new way of life. In the midst of all the cans-can'ts-shoulds, I need to eat different, go through regular P.T. and reconsider the structure of each day in the midst of this housewife life which, traditionally, has made greater demands than I am currently capable of.

But I am not alone. 

God is my everlasting strength and over the past 2 years, He has reminded me of the power of togetherness in family.... of the support and encouragement they are... "alone" is truly a choice and He was calling me to walk into the embrace of together. I am so blessed for that simple fact. It is work - but it is a good work - growing and molding not just our family as a whole, but me personally as well - making me more pliable to shake off loneliness and embrace togetherness more wholeheartedly.

As I maneuver the newness of this stage of life, doors open for opportunity, hubby and I as a team, pushing ahead in a venture which has been a lifetime dream of mine and I am blessed all the more. (more to come on this)

God has not put us in a place of utter loss, rather, he has moved us to a place of new opportunity - together.

*****

This has been a 5-minute Friday installment. I have missed this community so much! I'm excited to be writing for the great WWW again (naturally, I never stopped pouring out my heart in written words, even if no one else saw it!). Please pop over and say HI to the other great writers there!

Also, big announcements coming on the Blog and social media. This past year I lost my Faith and Home domain but we are working on an alternative as we also prepare for a HUGE endevour - stay tuned!

To keep up on the in-between, visit my Instagram account... I will see you here soon!

Comment below with lessons you have learned in togetherness!

Blessings,

Five Minute Friday: Lack

It has been a challenging week.  We spent a total of almost 8 days without hot water or heat due to a gas leak requiring our pipes to be shut off and re-ran.  Apparently 1940 pipes and fittings don't hold true to code in 2019... hmmm. (yes, that is sarcasm... and the price you pay when you buy a very dated house!).

The blessing in the midst of the storm was the gas line insurance the good Lord laid on my heart to purchase 2 years ago.  Something in my spirit pressed me then saying this would be a good and profitable idea.

Yet, even with the peace... and extra space heaters during a subsequent cold snap... nerves ran raw what with missing hot showers and the ease of washing dishes and clothes without boiling water.  Everything coming to a head Thursday morning when we learned, after hand-washed wet clothes sat in the dryer all night, that our dryer had gone out now too.

Hubby blew a fuse.

It was a difficult day, emotions for everyone were high with the pitfalls of life lately.  Yet, at my core I could hear a whisper:  peace. 

I knew, somehow, when irrationality wanted to take over, that I needed to keep my eyes on Jesus.  I needed to endeavor to be solutions-based, not self-destruction trapped.  So I laced up, lifted a prayer, and set to making it all work as well as I was able. 

As I mustered, hubby called: I'm sorry was spoken from his heart. 
As I kept walking, the gas company showed up on the heals of line repair: I'm here to light the pilot and heat began to issue from vents and faucets again.

I'm reminded how those who wait on the Lord lack nothing.  Not peace, not hope, not possibility... all are given in full.  It felt spiritually gratifying to come to the other side of these 8 days and say: my hope was in the Lord and so I know I will not lack.

...those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

- Psalm 34:10b 

Blessings,







This has been a Five Minute Friday Post where writers tap away for 5 minutes, un-edited, on a predetermined topic.  Check out other great posts by visiting:

You can click here to see some of the great blogs I am linking up today ...

Five Minute Friday: Offer

 

How often do we doop ourselves to believe we have nothing to offer?

"What can I possibly do"
"I can't do as much as that person"

But aren't we missing the point?

#1 - it isn't what we have to offer... it is totally and completely about what God intends to do through us.

#2 - God has created us each for a very specific purpose.  We ought not underestimate even the simplest of acts because even a trickle can become a roar.

I have heard it said that the Mississippi River begins as a small creek up in the north-central portion of Minnesota... yet, if you have traversed much across the mid-section of our country, you know it is anything but a trickling creek farther downstream.

Our little bit which we offer... whether it be financial or physical or emotional or spiritual... rolls up with the big and small offerings of many others to create a mighty force for difference.

Never underestimate your offer and ALWAYS look to God in the process and remember: it isn't what you can do... it is what He chooses to do through you!  How mediocre would be our faith and testimony if it was all about what is accomplished in our meager offerings compared to the mighty work only God can do!  Trust Him, even when he calls you to the simplest offering.  He just may be using you as part of something BIG, whether or not you ever see the completion.

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God

1 Timothy 1:6b

It starts out small and than it starts to grow!

Blessings,







This has been a Five Minute Friday Post where writers tap away for 5 minutes, un-edited, on a predetermined topic.  Check out other great posts by visiting:

You can click here to see some of the great blogs I am linking up today ...

Five Minute Friday: Balance

As I stared down at my half-filled journal page this morning I couldn't get past the gnawing sense that something was "off".  Here we are, basking in the glow of the brightest, most beautiful time of year... and yet I was feeling progressively more over-run.  I don't have one of those crazy schedules like many do.  My drive is more intrinsic.

Christmas presents purchased... check
Family letter on the burner... check  
Advent study on schedule... check 

What was this gnaw.  And then I realized.  In the bustles of checking my lists, plowing through my advent study and posting pretty pictures of morning musings, I hadn't been taking that real, meaningful, valuable quiet time to just sit with the Lord.  To spill and soak and be.

So, I laid my pen down, took a deep breath, and began fumbling out my 3 days past due prayer.  Each sentence halted and returned because I knew in my Spirit it wasn't getting to the heart of the issue.  Another deep breath, a quiet heart, and suddenly it came to me...

Lord, please help me find balance.

I could pray and ask for mountains to move but the fact is, that wasn't what God wanted for me today.  No, if we are called to pray into HIS will, not our own, I knew I needed to search deeper.  I needed to go until I felt I had struck gold and there it was: balance.

Life in this Christmas season had been so caught up in the play of tradition and rote, I had forgotten to FOCUS, collect, rest in His presence, and breathe.  All parts of the critical balance this time of year benefits most from.

I pray you know His divine hand and presence of balance in your life this Christmas season.

Blessings,

You can click here to see some of the great blogs I am linking up today ...

This has been a Five Minute Friday Post where writers tap away for 5 minutes, un-edited, on a predetermined topic.  Check out other great posts by visiting:

Cleche and Comfort

 

Comfort.

As Mother's Day weekend approaches, the word does not insight for me what many moms will probably be writing about today.

Yes my comfort use to be curled in the rocker with a a baby in one arm and a toddler in the other.  Oh how I loved those baby days.

My comfort is still sometimes my 10 year old, still the 'baby' of the family, curled up in my arms as we read or watch a movie or just talk.

But today, this day, my comfort is in being almost home.  The long journey that has taken us far and wide.  First to live in a home not my own for more than a year and a half and then to travel the country on God's errands.  My 'home' is mine again, a small 26 foot, 30 year old RV.  Comfort comes in knowing the roof over my head is God's roof, not someone else's. 

Comfort in seeing Him provide for our needs and comfort in finally being still... for a time... as we transition into a new "home".

Oh, the house and the walls may not be here yet.  In time, though, they will be. Our wheels and 26 feet of space and hook up outside a warm and inviting church make the transition easy... comfortable.

The comfort of knowing that following where HE leads, whether it be Alabama, Tennessee, Texas, Arizona, Africa, Asia, or just.simply. Montana.... my comfort is in the Lord

It sounds cliche.  But when you travel and trust and hand your life over to His will instead of your own... it isn't cliche at all.  It is Truth. 

Comfort in Truth. 

Comfort in surroundings found through Him. 

This is 5-minute Friday.  If you would like, join me over at Lisa Jo's blog, slip in with your 5 minutes on Comfort... whether your ponderings are cliche or not!

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word. 

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 

 

Be blessed, in whatever and wherever your comfort may be today.

 

  

 Also linking up with some of these

Opportunity in the Unexpected

 Opportunity often arises in the unexpected.  Each year for most of my adult life, God has revealed to me a word or direction or revelation about the year to come.  I have learned to look forward to this direction... to seek Him more diligently, more sincerely, and to hear Him more clearly.  Because, as with all things in life, His leading produces much better results then my pushing!

So Opportunity arises.  The opp to obey, grow, learn, experience and BE His daughter... a better reflection of my Father.  I love that kind of opportunity.

This year, I have an opportunity to do more than simply grow.  I see it, I hear Him, and I look forward to every step His leading will take me.

It is an opportunity to clear out clutter, re-evaluate, rebuild and rediscover... HIS purpose for my life.  HIS design for my being.

I typically look at each year with baited breath... knowing each day in each month holds so much opportunity, so much adventure and discovery.  But this year, for the first time, I look forward to this time NEXT year... to see where this journey will take me.

But...

I don't want to get ahead of myself.  Because I do want to Grow Where I'm Planted and experience the NOW.  I don't want to miss the scenery as I go by.  Opportunity in-deed, and this coming week I will reveal the opportunity God has shown me in my One Word for 2013.

I pray you embrace every opportunity God has set before you to Grow in His Word, His Truth, and His Image!

Most Sincere Blessings,

P.S.  The flowers above were a surprised OPPORTUNITY to see beauty in the midst of "winter" but then, "winter" isn't the same in the southwestern desert as it is in the Northwestern mountains!

Participating this week in Five Minute Friday (on Saturday... missed my opportunity to write on Friday!!)