A Much Needed Reminder

"During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.   And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.  And God saw the people of Israel- and God knew." Exodus 2:23-25

This passage was a part of my Bible reading the other day and was exactly the what I needed at the moment.  While I'm not living as a slave, there are times I feel as if I'm a slave to my circumstances and with that feeling comes a sense of hopelessness and all I can do is cry out to God to rescue me from what I'm dealing with right now.  

There is immense comfort in knowing that my life is in the hands of an amazing God who hears me when I cry out to Him, who remembers me when I feel forgotten, who sees me when I feel invisible and who knows what I'm going through because He sent His son to live an earthly life and also experienced trials and hardships. I'm not ignored or forgotten and that gives me such peace in the midst of my trials.  This is also a wonderful reminder for me during this time of waiting.

When I cry out to Him because I'm worried about an up and coming life change, He hears. 

When I am about to throw in the towel because I feel forgotten and hopeless and feel that God has forgotten His promises to me, He hasn't forgotten. He remembers. 

When I'm a sobbing mess in the middle of my bed feeling invisible because my prayers seem to have gone unanswered (or in the real case, the answer is wait and I'm impatient), He sees. 

When I'm lost and confused because I don't know what God's plans are and I don't know what's going to happen in the near future, He knows.

Most of all, He's there.  He's there to comfort me in the midst of tears.  There to remind me of His promises and there to lead me in trusting Him because even though I have no clue what's going to happen, He does.  He has everything planned out and I need to trust Him and know that no matter what, everything is going to be fine because God has ordained everything and His ways are perfect.  Always.

A Bit of a Delay

Of course when I feel it's time to get back into blogging,  my internet is down and I'm unable to post!!  It is fixed now, but I'm headed into a crazy busy weekend and I won't have time to post anything substantial until Monday.  I do have some ideas spinning in my head so hopefully I can begin to post regularly next week!

Until then, have a wonderful weekend!

Building A Sanctuary

"Few things we can do in this world are so well worth doing as the making of a beautiful and happy home. He who does this builds a sanctuary for God and opens a fountain of blessing for men."- J.R. Miller

One of the reasons I wanted to get back into blogging, is hopefully to restore the joy in homemaking.  The past year, I have found myself getting into this rut of only doing the bare minimum I could get away with and the end result lately has been stress.  There's been no planning, no organizing and no focus.   I need to get back to the idea that as a homemaker, my job is to create a welcoming sanctuary for all who enter, especially my husband.  He doesn't have the greatest job in the world, so it would be nice for him to come home after a stressful time at work and have a quiet and comfortable place to rest where the presence of the Lord is always there and always felt.

When I think about homemaking that way, it's easier for me to put aside my selfish desires and work hard at creating the right atmosphere.  This is my job.  I need to be as committed to this job as I was when I had a paying gig.  Just because I "work from home" now,  it doesn't give me an excuse to shirk my duties and run off to the next fun thing just because I can.  

When I worked outside of the home, I had a strict schedule, a detailed calendar, a fantastic (if I do say so myself) organizational system of all the jobs I had going on at the moment and I could tell you exactly what project was working on and every single detail that it had.  Now, I couldn't even tell you the contents of my refrigerator if you asked me and don't even ask if my husband has a clean dress shirt to wear for a party we are attending  next week.  I need to use the organizational talents that the Lord has given me and use them to build a sanctuary. I've been home for three and a half years now and it's time for me to get serious about it.  

I love the quote I posted above because  it puts things into perspective for me.  My purpose in being a homemaker and creating a beautiful space is to glorify God alone and that will overflow into a peaceful sanctuary for my husband, me and whoever else enters our home.  This week, I will work to the glory of God and get back on track and treat my job at home as the best job on the planet, because it is!!

I'll be meditating on this verse as I create my sanctuary this week:

"And whatever you, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."- Colossians 3:17

Ten Years Ago Today...

I said "I do!" to the man of my dreams. 

As I rewind to 2002, I see this twenty-one year old girl so full of hopes and dreams.  Dreams of a house full of children and living this... Leave it to Beaver type existence, Somewhere that's Green.  Hopes of a husband who serves the Lord faithfully in all he does and leads us in daily devotions and family worship time. Selfishly, I admit, I also hoped that by this time we'd be doing well financially and living in our dream home.

But ten years has past, and my life is not at all like what I'd hoped or dreamed.  By God's grace it's better and we took a mighty hard road to get to this place.  In 2002, we got married and started to live a "keeping up with the Jonses" lifestyle.  We bought a house right away and went through two new cars because it's  what all our friend's were doing.  By 2004, we were in debt and I couldn't even imagine quitting my full time job because we couldn't afford it.  Not only did we both work full time, we both worked over time, which led us into this survival cycle of just doing the bare minimum to survive because we were so exhausted. 

Instead of being a stay at home wife who cooked wonderful and wholesome meals, I was an over worked, stressed out mess who relied heavily on restaurants and fast food because I was too tired to cook. I also took on the unhealthy habit of chain smoking because it gave me a reason to take a 10 minute break every hour at work.  We stopped going to church all together because Sunday was our only day that we didn't have to work and we slept the day away just to catch up on the sleep we missed during the week prior.  On top of that, forget children!  Life was so hectic, the thought of adding kids to the mix was just too overwhelming.  We did this for four years and finally in 2008, God got a hold of us in a way we never saw coming.  We both got laid off on the same day.  

The next few years was definitely a time of refining for us.  Jobs came and went for my husband and even for me.  Even while my husband was still unemployed,  I quit a job I took on because we felt strongly that the the Lord wanted me home.  We received much criticism for that decision, but we don't regret it at all. Even though we have lost much, including our home, we have grown closer to the Lord and even closer to one another. I guess being together every day for two straight years during unemployment will do that. 

All this to say that as I look back on the young girl who had no clue what she was getting herself into,  I am thankful that God has led us down the path of hardship because it has made me the woman I am today and for that, I'd say "I do" all over again. 

To my husband, I love you even more now than I did on our wedding day and I'm also thankful that God has created you into the man of God I prayed for many years ago.  I am so excited too see where the next ten years will lead us! 

Anonymity

There's comfort in anonymity.  The thought that I can post my thoughts and share my heart without fear of questions by people I know is quite freeing.  You see, I've blogged in the past. I've never been a popular blogger, which is not my aim, but I shared my past blog with those who share life with me and I knew that as soon as I hit the "publish" button, I would get texts, e-mails and phone calls from friends and family saying "you really think that?"  It got quite annoying so I stopped blogging all together for awhile and then shut down my blog completely.

I don't think anyone really missed me, but I missed blogging.  I missed sharing in a community of like minded women who wouldn't question me for quitting my job in order to be a keeper at home. I missed being able to share my thoughts on being a conservative, Christ following woman without fear of being labeled a hateful , narrow-minded bigot by people who I thought were friends and I missed sharing my thoughts of being a Godly, submissive wife with other women who understand the importance of such a high calling. 

So here I am. Back in the blogging saddle, though somewhat anonymously.  I hope to share on everything from being a Godly, submissive wife and homemaking, to sharing my heart and the testimony of what Jesus has done for me, and still does in my daily life as I live with a heart fully submitted to Him.